dietary
/ˈdaɪət(ə)ɹi/
"dietary" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dietary” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,199 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,199
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A regulated diet that excludes or constrains certain types of food, especially for health reasons; also, a book or similar setting out such regulations.
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 | dietary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdaɪət(ə)ɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #11,199 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dietary” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dietary is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdaɪət(ə)ɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,199 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for dietary, with forms such as "ddietary", "deitary", and "dieatry". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "dreary", "dieter", "diary", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Medieval Latin diētārium (“book prescribing diet”), from Latin diaeta (“diet”). The correct English form is dietary, spelled D-I-E-T-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A regulated diet that excludes or constrains certain types of food, especially for health reasons; also, a book or similar setting out such regulations.
- 2A prescribed meal plan setting out how the inhabitants of an institution (such as a prison, hospital etc.) should be fed, and on what foods.
Etymology
From Medieval Latin diētārium (“book prescribing diet”), from Latin diaeta (“diet”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddietary,deitary,dieatry,dietarry,dietaryy,dietayr,dietray,diettary,diteary,idetary
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dietary - 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
How do you spell "dietary"?
What does "dietary" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "dietary"?
How do you pronounce "dietary"?
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Using “dietary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-E-T-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdaɪət(ə)ɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “dreary” - see the side-by-side comparison. dietary vs dreary
- 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.