dreadful
/ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/
"dreadful" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dreadful” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,882 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,882
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Full of something causing dread, whether
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 | dreadful |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #11,882 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dreadful” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dreadful is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,882 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for dreadful, with forms such as "ddreadful", "deradful", and "draedful". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "dreadfully", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread + -ful. The correct English form is dreadful, spelled D-R-E-A-D-F-U-L.
Definition
- 1Full of something causing dread, whether
- 2Full of something causing dread, whether
- 3Full of something causing dread, whether
- 4Full of dread, whether
- 5Full of dread, whether
- 6Full of dread, whether
Etymology
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread + -ful.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddreadful,deradful,draedful,dreaddful,dreadfful,dreadflu,dreadfull,dreadufl,dreafdul,dredaful,drreadful,rdeadful
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dreadful - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "dreadful"?
What does "dreadful" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "dreadful"?
How do you pronounce "dreadful"?
What is the origin of the word "dreadful"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “dreadful”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-R-E-A-D-F-U-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “dreadfully” - see the side-by-side comparison. dreadful vs dreadfully
- 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.