cleansing
/ˈklɛn.zɪŋ/
"cleansing" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cleansing” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,684 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #13,684
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - That cleanses.
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 | cleansing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈklɛn.zɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #13,684 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cleansing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cleansing is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈklɛn.zɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,684 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "That cleanses.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for cleansing, with forms such as "ccleansing", "celansing", and "claensing". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "clearing", "ceasing", "cleaning", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is cleansing, spelled C-L-E-A-N-S-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1That cleanses.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccleansing,celansing,claensing,cleanisng,cleannsing,cleansign,cleansingg,cleansinng,cleansnig,cleanssing,cleasning,clenasing,clleansing,lceansing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cleansing - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "cleansing"?
What does "cleansing" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "cleansing"?
How do you pronounce "cleansing"?
What language does "cleansing" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “cleansing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-E-A-N-S-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈklɛn.zɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “clearing” - see the side-by-side comparison. cleansing vs clearing
- 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.