criticise
"criticise" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“criticise” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,337 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #22,337
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of criticize.
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 | criticise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #22,337 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “criticise” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for criticise is 9 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #22,337 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of criticize.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for criticise, with forms such as "ccriticise", "cirticise", and "criitcise". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "criticism", "criticize", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From critic + -ise, see criticize. The correct English form is criticise, spelled C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of criticize.
Etymology
From critic + -ise, see criticize.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccriticise,cirticise,criitcise,critciise,criticcise,criticies,criticisse,criticsie,critiicse,critticise,crriticise,crtiicise,rciticise
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of criticise - 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
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Using “criticise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “criticism” - see the side-by-side comparison. criticise vs criticism
- 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.