caretaking

noun

"caretaking" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“caretaking” is uncommon English (frequency #91,337 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,337
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of taking care or taking charge of something.

Corpus desk

Index EN-caretaking · caretaking · English

caretaking · rank #91,337 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,337
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH capstan

Nearest frequency peer: capstan (-3 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “caretaking”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “caretaking” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for caretaking
PropertyValue
Headwordcaretaking
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#91,337
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “caretaking” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).caretakingfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “capstan” (#91,334), “casse” (#91,340), “Camperdown” (#91,333). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “caretaking” is #91,337. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

caretaking is uncommon English at frequency #91,337 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for caretaking, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From care + taking. The correct English form is caretaking, spelled C-A-R-E-T-A-K-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of taking care or taking charge of something.
  2. 2
    Caregiving.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how caretaking appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Near-synonym: taking care
  2. Caretaking of the extensive grounds is a major expense for the museum foundation.

Etymology

From care + taking.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "caretaking"?
"caretaking" is spelled C-A-R-E-T-A-K-I-N-G.
What does "caretaking" mean?
As a noun, "caretaking" means: The act of taking care or taking charge of something.
What is the origin of the word "caretaking"?
From care + taking. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "caretaking", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list