by accident
"by-accident" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“by accident” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Accidentally; unintentionally; without meaning to; as the result of an event not expected, aided, or willingly planned.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | by accident |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “by accident” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
by accident is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for by accident in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is by accident, spelled B-Y- -A-C-C-I-D-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Accidentally; unintentionally; without meaning to; as the result of an event not expected, aided, or willingly planned.
- 2As the result of some undesigned, unintended, unrelated, natural, or random occurrence; as the unexpected and unforeseen result of formerly unrelated factors.
- 3By chance; unexpectedly; as the result of an unrelated series of events.
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
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Using “by accident”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-Y- -A-C-C-I-D-E-N-T - 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.