catalyze
/ˈkætəˌlaɪz/
"catalyze" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“catalyze” is uncommon English (frequency #51,602 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,602
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To bring about the catalysis of a chemical reaction.
Corpus desk
Index EN-catalyze · catalyze · English
catalyze · rank #51,602 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,602
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cavalcade
Nearest frequency peer: cavalcade (+1 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 “catalyze”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- carnaval
carnaval
48,403 corpus weight
- Carvajal
Carvajal
48,401 corpus weight
- catalyze
catalyze
48,399 corpus weight
- cavalcade
cavalcade
48,398 corpus weight
- cerebrospin…
cerebrospinal
48,397 corpus weight
- Ceredigion
Ceredigion
48,396 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “catalyze” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | catalyze |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkætəˌlaɪz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #51,602 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “catalyze” in English
Rare enough to double-check
catalyze is uncommon English at frequency #51,602 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈkætəˌlaɪz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
catalyze has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is catalyze, spelled C-A-T-A-L-Y-Z-E.
Definition
- 1To bring about the catalysis of a chemical reaction.
- 2To accelerate a process.
- 3To inspire significantly by catalysis.
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); 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "catalyze", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).