ghosting

Name: ghosting, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“ghosting” is uncommon English (frequency #51,724 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,724
frequency rank, English: 18,276
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The practice of hiding prisoners from inspection from (possibly hostile) outside inspectors.

Key facts for ghosting
Property	Value
Headword	ghosting
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#51,724
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ghosting” 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). ghosting lands here:

#51,724

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

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

Rare enough to double-check

ghosting is uncommon English at frequency #51,724 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

ghosting has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From ghost + -ing. The correct English form is ghosting, spelled G-H-O-S-T-I-N-G.

Definition

1
The practice of hiding prisoners from inspection from (possibly hostile) outside inspectors.
2
The blurry appearance of a television picture resulting from interference caused by multipath reception.
3
Ghost imaging.
4
A form of identity theft in which someone steals the identity, and sometimes even the role within society, of a specific dead person (the "ghost") who is not widely known to be deceased.
5
A problem with a keyboard where certain simultaneous keypresses trigger the action of a further key that was not in fact pressed.
6
A method of ending a personal relationship by stopping any contact with the other party and not providing an explanation.
7
The phenomenon of the writing on one side of a page in a notebook being partly visible on the other side.
8
The act or habit of exhaling vape smoke slowly, to prevent others from noticing.

Etymology

From ghost + -ing.

This word in other languages

espantada(Español)ghosting(Français)Ghosting(Deutsch)fantasma(Português)

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 "ghosting"?

"ghosting" is spelled G-H-O-S-T-I-N-G.

What does "ghosting" mean?

As a noun, "ghosting" means: The practice of hiding prisoners from inspection from (possibly hostile) outside inspectors.

What is the origin of the word "ghosting"?

From ghost + -ing. See the full etymology section above for more details.

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 “ghosting”

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

The one correct English spelling is G-H-O-S-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.