decaying
"decaying" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“decaying” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,137 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #24,137
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of decay
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for decaying is 8 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #24,137 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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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Using “decaying”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-C-A-Y-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “denying” - see the side-by-side comparison. decaying vs denying
- 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.