extinguished

verb

"extinguished" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“extinguished” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,667 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#22,667
frequency rank, English
12
letters
18
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of extinguish

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

extinguished vs extinguisher
92% similar
extinguished vs extinguish
83% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for extinguished
PropertyValue
Headwordextinguished
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters12
Frequency rank#22,667
Misspellings tracked18
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “extinguished” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). extinguished lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for extinguished is 12 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #22,667 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of extinguish".

Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for extinguished, with forms such as "etxinguished", "exitnguished", and "extignuished". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "extinguisher", "extinguish", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is extinguished, spelled E-X-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of extinguish

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: etxinguished,exitnguished,extignuished,extingguished,extingiushed,extinguihsed,extinguisehd,extinguishde,extinguishedd,extinguishhed,extinguisshed,extingusihed,extinnguished,extinugished,extniguished,exttinguished,exxtinguished,xetinguished

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of extinguished - 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.

etxinguished2exitnguished2extignuished2extingguished1extingiushed2extinguihsed2extinguisehd2extinguishde2
Edit distance from "extinguished"

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 "extinguished"?
"extinguished" is spelled E-X-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H-E-D.
What does "extinguished" mean?
As a verb, "extinguished" means: simple past and past participle of extinguish
What words are commonly confused with "extinguished"?
"extinguished" is commonly confused with "extinguisher", "extinguish". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "extinguished" come from?
"extinguished" 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.

Using “extinguished”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is E-X-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “extinguisher” - see the side-by-side comparison. extinguished vs extinguisher
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list