festering

noun

"festering" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“festering” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,131. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#42,131
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The condition of something that festers.

Corpus desk

Index EN-festering · festering · English

festering · rank #42,131 · 14 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #42,131
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH Fibonacci

Nearest frequency peer: Fibonacci (+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 “festering”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “festering” 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

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

festering vs filtering
78% similar
festering vs fastening
78% similar
festering vs faltering
78% similar

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

Key facts for festering
PropertyValue
Headwordfestering
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#42,131
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “festering”

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).festeringlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Fibonacci” (#42,132), “falsetto” (#42,129), “faithless” (#42,128). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “festering” is #42,131. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around festering, anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,131 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The condition of something that festers.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for festering, with forms such as "efstering", "fesetring", and "fesstering". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "filtering", "fastening", "faltering", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is festering, spelled F-E-S-T-E-R-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The condition of something that festers.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. […] discontent would creep in and breed festerings and mortifications in the New Moral World, or else decree its fate more rapidly by effecting its dissolution.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • efstering
  • fesetring
  • fesstering
  • festeirng
  • festerign
  • festeringg
  • festerinng
  • festernig
  • festerring
  • festreing
  • festtering
  • fetsering
  • ffestering
  • fsetering

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

efstering2fesetring2fesstering1festeirng2festerign2festeringg1festerinng1festernig2
Edit distance from "festering"

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 "festering"?
"festering" is spelled F-E-S-T-E-R-I-N-G.
What does "festering" mean?
As a noun, "festering" means: The condition of something that festers.
What words are commonly confused with "festering"?
"festering" is commonly confused with "filtering", "fastening", "faltering". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "festering" come from?
"festering" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "festering", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list