contestant
/kənˈtɛstənt/
"contestant" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contestant” has 16 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,373. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,373
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A participant in a contest; specifically, a person who plays a game, as on a TV game show.
Corpus desk
Index EN-contestant · contestant · English
contestant · rank #15,373 · 16 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-MID #15,373
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 16 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH contradictory
Nearest frequency peer: contradictory (+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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “contestant”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- commencement
commencement
84,632 corpus weight
- concede
concede
84,631 corpus weight
- contestant
contestant
84,628 corpus weight
- contradicto…
contradictory
84,627 corpus weight
- convent
convent
84,626 corpus weight
- converse
converse
84,625 corpus weight
What this shows “contestant” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | contestant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kənˈtɛstənt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #15,373 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “contestant”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 16 spelling variants around contestant (IPA /kənˈtɛstənt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,373 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for contestant, with forms such as "ccontestant", "cnotestant", and "conetstant". 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, "contesting", "constant", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French contestant, present participle of contester. The correct English form is contestant, spelled C-O-N-T-E-S-T-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1A participant in a contest; specifically, a person who plays a game, as on a TV game show.
- 2One who brings a legal challenge.
Etymology
From French contestant, present participle of contester.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccontestant
- cnotestant
- conetstant
- conntestant
- contesatnt
- contesstant
- contestannt
- contestantt
- contestatn
- contestnat
- contesttant
- contetsant
- contsetant
- conttestant
- cotnestant
- ocntestant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contestant - 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 "contestant"?
What does "contestant" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "contestant", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).