Cretaceous
/kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/
"cretaceous" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Cretaceous” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,764 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #21,764
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Cretaceous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #21,764 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Cretaceous” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Cretaceous is 10 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,764 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for Cretaceous, with forms such as "ccretaceous", "certaceous", and "creatceous". 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. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Specific use of cretaceous. The correct English form is Cretaceous, spelled C-R-E-T-A-C-E-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.
Etymology
Specific use of cretaceous.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccretaceous,certaceous,creatceous,cretacceous,cretaceosu,cretaceouss,cretaceuos,cretacoeus,cretaecous,cretcaeous,crettaceous,crretaceous,crteaceous,rcetaceous
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Cretaceous - 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 "Cretaceous"?
What does "Cretaceous" mean?
What are common misspellings of "Cretaceous"?
How do you pronounce "Cretaceous"?
What is the origin of the word "Cretaceous"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Cretaceous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-E-T-A-C-E-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.