below average
"below-average" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“below average” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Worse or lower than average.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | below average |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “below average” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
below average is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Worse or lower than average.".
Zero misspellings are on record for below average in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is below average, spelled B-E-L-O-W- -A-V-E-R-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1Worse or lower than average.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "below average"?
What does "below average" mean?
What language does "below average" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “below average”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-L-O-W- -A-V-E-R-A-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.