disheartening

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"disheartening" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“disheartening” has 20 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #34,465. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#34,465
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords
20
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Causing a person to lose heart; making despondent or gloomy.

Corpus desk

Index EN-disheartening · disheartening · English

disheartening · rank #34,465 · 20 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #34,465
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 20 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH depress

Nearest frequency peer: depress (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “disheartening”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “disheartening” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for disheartening
PropertyValue
Headworddisheartening
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters13
Frequency rank#34,465
Misspellings tracked20
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “disheartening”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).dishearteninglands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “depress” (#34,464), “Dugan” (#34,466), “depravity” (#34,463). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “disheartening” is #34,465. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 20 spelling variants around disheartening, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #34,465 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Causing a person to lose heart; making despondent or gloomy.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 20 likely wrong-spelling variants for disheartening, with forms such as "ddisheartening", "dihseartening", and "disehartening". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is disheartening, spelled D-I-S-H-E-A-R-T-E-N-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Causing a person to lose heart; making despondent or gloomy.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how disheartening appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. After this, with the disheartening failures after the Railway Mania, railway projection in east Cornwall went to sleep.

Synonyms

crushingdemotivatingdauntingdemoralizingdisappointingdiscouragingdishearteningdispiritingbleakgutting

This word in other languages

descorazonador(Español)démoralisant(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddisheartening
  • dihseartening
  • disehartening
  • dishaertening
  • dishearetning
  • dishearrtening
  • dishearteinng
  • disheartenign
  • dishearteningg
  • dishearteninng
  • disheartennig
  • disheartenning
  • disheartneing
  • dishearttening
  • disheatrening
  • disheratening
  • dishheartening
  • dissheartening
  • dsiheartening
  • idsheartening

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of disheartening - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ddisheartening1dihseartening2disehartening2dishaertening2dishearetning2dishearrtening1dishearteinng2disheartenign2
Edit distance from "disheartening"

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 "disheartening"?
"disheartening" is spelled D-I-S-H-E-A-R-T-E-N-I-N-G.
What does "disheartening" mean?
As an adjective, "disheartening" means: Causing a person to lose heart; making despondent or gloomy.
What are common misspellings of "disheartening"?
Common misspellings include "ddisheartening", "dihseartening", "disehartening", "dishaertening", "dishearetning". The correct spelling is "disheartening".
What language does "disheartening" come from?
"disheartening" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "disheartening", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

eavesdropping#34,468compositional#34,442hyperactivity#34,532astonishingly#34,385

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (20 here; floor ≥5).

bloodthirsty20 variantsintergalactic20 variantsuninteresting20 variantsprobabilistic20 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list