cosmetic
/kɒzˈmɛtɪk/
"cosmetic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cosmetic” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #11,008. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #11,008
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cosmetic · cosmetic · English
cosmetic · rank #11,008 · 12 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-MID #11,008
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cork
Nearest frequency peer: cork (-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 “cosmetic”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- continuation
continuation
88,997 corpus weight
- convoy
convoy
88,995 corpus weight
- cork
cork
88,994 corpus weight
- cosmetic
cosmetic
88,993 corpus weight
- cubic
cubic
88,992 corpus weight
- Cyprus
Cyprus
88,991 corpus weight
What this shows “cosmetic” 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 | cosmetic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kɒzˈmɛtɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #11,008 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cosmetic”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around cosmetic (IPA /kɒzˈmɛtɪk/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #11,008 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for cosmetic, with forms such as "ccosmetic", "comsetic", and "cosemtic". 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, "cosmic", "cosmetics", "comedic", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), from κοσμητής (kosmētḗs, “orderer, director, decorator”), from κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to… The correct English form is cosmetic, spelled C-O-S-M-E-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.
- 2External or superficial; pertaining only to the surface or appearance of something.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cosmetic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a cosmetic preparation
Firſt, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores / With head uncover'd, the coſmetic pow'rs.
Etymology
From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), from κοσμητής (kosmētḗs, “orderer, director, decorator”), from κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to dress, to embellish”), from κόσμος (kósmos, “order”). By surface analysis, cosmos + -etic.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccosmetic
- comsetic
- cosemtic
- cosmeitc
- cosmetci
- cosmeticc
- cosmettic
- cosmmetic
- cosmteic
- cossmetic
- csometic
- ocsmetic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cosmetic - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "cosmetic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).