cyst
/sɪst/
"cyst" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cyst” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,720 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #24,720
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A pouch or sac without opening, usually membranous and containing morbid matter, which develops in one of the natural cavities or in the substance of an organ.
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 | cyst |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sɪst/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #24,720 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cyst” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cyst is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɪst/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,720 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A pouch or sac without opening, usually membranous and containing morbid matter, which develops in one of the natural cavities or in the substance of an organ.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cyst, with forms such as "ccyst", "csyt", and "cysst". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cysts", "cystic", "CT", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Latin cystis, from Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “anatomical sac”). The correct English form is cyst, spelled C-Y-S-T.
Definition
- 1A pouch or sac without opening, usually membranous and containing morbid matter, which develops in one of the natural cavities or in the substance of an organ.
Etymology
From Late Latin cystis, from Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “anatomical sac”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccyst,csyt,cysst,cystt,cyts,cyyst,ycst
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cyst - 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
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Using “cyst”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-Y-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɪst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cysts” - see the side-by-side comparison. cyst vs cysts
- 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.