contaminate
/kənˈtæmɪneɪt/
"contaminate" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contaminate” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,662 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #35,662
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter.
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 | contaminate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #35,662 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contaminate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for contaminate is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,662 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for contaminate, with forms such as "ccontaminate", "cnotaminate", and "conatminate". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "contaminated", "contaminant", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in the early 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; from Middle English contaminaten (“to defile; to infect with desease”), from contaminat(e) (“sullied, defiled; infected with desease”, also used as the past participle of contaminaten) + -en (verb… The correct English form is contaminate, spelled C-O-N-T-A-M-I-N-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter.
- 2To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association.
- 3To make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements.
- 4To infect, usually of a deadly virus.
Etymology
First attested in the early 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; from Middle English contaminaten (“to defile; to infect with desease”), from contaminat(e) (“sullied, defiled; infected with desease”, also used as the past participle of contaminaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), from Latin contāminātus, the perfect passive participle of contāminō (“to touch together, blend, mingle, corrupt, defile”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), which see for further informations. More at taste, tax, and taxi.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccontaminate,cnotaminate,conatminate,conntaminate,contaimnate,contamiante,contaminaet,contaminatte,contaminnate,contamintae,contamminate,contamniate,contmainate,conttaminate,cotnaminate,ocntaminate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contaminate - 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 "contaminate"?
What does "contaminate" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "contaminate"?
How do you pronounce "contaminate"?
What is the origin of the word "contaminate"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “contaminate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-T-A-M-I-N-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “contaminated” - see the side-by-side comparison. contaminate vs contaminated
- 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.