deceased
/dɪˈsiːst/
"deceased" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“deceased” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,552 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #7,552
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - No longer alive; dead.
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 | deceased |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /dɪˈsiːst/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #7,552 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “deceased” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for deceased is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈsiːst/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,552 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for deceased, with forms such as "dceeased", "ddeceased", and "decaesed". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "declared", "decrease", "defeated", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From decease + -ed, from Middle English deceas via Old French [Term?], from Latin dēcessus (“departure”), equivalent to dēced-, variation of dēcēdō, dēcēdere (“to go away”). The correct English form is deceased, spelled D-E-C-E-A-S-E-D.
Definition
- 1No longer alive; dead.
- 2Belonging to the dead.
- 3One who has died.
- 4Overwhelmed to the point of being figuratively dead.
Etymology
From decease + -ed, from Middle English deceas via Old French [Term?], from Latin dēcessus (“departure”), equivalent to dēced-, variation of dēcēdō, dēcēdere (“to go away”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: dceeased,ddeceased,decaesed,decceased,deceaesd,deceasde,deceasedd,deceassed,decesaed,deecased,edceased
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of deceased - 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 “deceased”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-C-E-A-S-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈsiːst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “declared” - see the side-by-side comparison. deceased vs declared
- 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.