characterise
"characterise" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“characterise” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #44,682 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #44,682
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of characterize.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | characterise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #44,682 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “characterise” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for characterise is 12 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #44,682 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of characterize.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for characterise, with forms such as "cahracterise", "ccharacterise", and "chaarcterise". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "characters", "characterize", "characterized", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From character + -ise. The correct English form is characterise, spelled C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of characterize.
Etymology
From character + -ise.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahracterise,ccharacterise,chaarcterise,characcterise,characetrise,characteirse,characteries,characterisse,characterrise,charactersie,charactreise,charactterise,charatcerise,charcaterise,charracterise,chharacterise,chraacterise,hcaracterise
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of characterise - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "characterise"?
What does "characterise" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "characterise"?
What is the origin of the word "characterise"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “characterise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “characters” - see the side-by-side comparison. characterise vs characters
- 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.