decriminalizing
/diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪzɪŋ(ɡ)/
"decriminalizing" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“decriminalizing” is uncommon English (frequency #86,197 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,197
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of decriminalize To change the laws so something is no longer a crime.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | decriminalizing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪzɪŋ(ɡ)/ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Frequency rank | #86,197 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “decriminalizing” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
decriminalizing is uncommon English at frequency #86,197 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪzɪŋ(ɡ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "present participle and gerund of decriminalize To change the laws so something is no longer a crime.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for decriminalizing, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is decriminalizing, spelled D-E-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L-I-Z-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of decriminalize To change the laws so something is no longer a crime.
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 “decriminalizing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L-I-Z-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪzɪŋ(ɡ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.