carefulness

noun

"carefulness" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“carefulness” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The state of being careful.

Corpus desk

Index EN-carefulness · carefulness · English

carefulness · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for carefulness
PropertyValue
Headwordcarefulness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “carefulness” in English

carefulnessfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

carefulness is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The state of being careful.".

carefulness has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English [Term?], from Old English carfulnes (“care, anxiety, a charge, cure of souls, solicitude, carefulness, curiousness, curiosity”), equivalent to careful + -ness. The correct English form is carefulness, spelled C-A-R-E-F-U-L-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The state of being careful.

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old English carfulnes (“care, anxiety, a charge, cure of souls, solicitude, carefulness, curiousness, curiosity”), equivalent to careful + -ness.

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 "carefulness"?
"carefulness" is spelled C-A-R-E-F-U-L-N-E-S-S.
What does "carefulness" mean?
As a noun, "carefulness" means: The state of being careful.
What is the origin of the word "carefulness"?
From Middle English [Term?], from Old English carfulnes (“care, anxiety, a charge, cure of souls, solicitude, carefulness, curiousness, curiosity”), equivalent to careful + -ness. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list