counteroffensive
"counteroffensive" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“counteroffensive” is uncommon English (frequency #73,090 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,090
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - US spelling of counter-offensive.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | counteroffensive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 16 |
| Frequency rank | #73,090 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “counteroffensive” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
counteroffensive is uncommon English at frequency #73,090 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "US spelling of counter-offensive.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for counteroffensive, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From counter- + offensive. The correct English form is counteroffensive, spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R-O-F-F-E-N-S-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1US spelling of counter-offensive.
Etymology
From counter- + offensive.
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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Using “counteroffensive”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-U-N-T-E-R-O-F-F-E-N-S-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.