decaying
"decaying" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“decaying” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #24,137. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #24,137
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of decay
Corpus desk
Index EN-decaying · decaying · English
decaying · rank #24,137 · 12 variants · 8 confusables
- FREQ-MID #24,137
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH Dawkins
Nearest frequency peer: Dawkins (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “decaying”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- dak
dak
75,867 corpus weight
- Danube
Danube
75,866 corpus weight
- Dawkins
Dawkins
75,865 corpus weight
- decaying
decaying
75,864 corpus weight
- decipher
decipher
75,863 corpus weight
- delve
delve
75,862 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “decaying” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | decaying |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #24,137 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “decaying” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around decaying, averb. Corpus frequency is #24,137 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of decay".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for decaying, with forms such as "dceaying", "ddecaying", and "deacying". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "denying", "decking", "deciding", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From decay + -ing. The correct English form is decaying, spelled D-E-C-A-Y-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of decay
Etymology
From decay + -ing.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- dceaying
- ddecaying
- deacying
- decaiyng
- decayign
- decayingg
- decayinng
- decaynig
- decayying
- deccaying
- decyaing
- edcaying
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of decaying - 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 "decaying", 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).
What to do next
You've looked up "decaying". Here's where to go from here.
- "decaying" maps to 8 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "denying". View pair
- 12 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #24,137 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.