goodness
/ˈɡʊdnəs/
"goodness" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goodness” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,795 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,795
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The state or characteristic of being good.
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 | goodness |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡʊdnəs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #5,795 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “goodness” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for goodness is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡʊdnəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,795 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for goodness, with forms such as "ggoodness", "godness", and "godoness". 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, "goddess", "godless", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English goodnesse, godnesse, from Old English gōdnes (“goodness; virtue; kindness”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōdnassī (“goodness”), equivalent to good + -ness. Cognate with Scots guidness (“goodness”), West Frisian goedens (“goodness”), Old Hi… The correct English form is goodness, spelled G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1The state or characteristic of being good.
- 2The good, nutritional, healthy part or content of something.
- 3God.
- 4The moral qualities which constitute Christian excellence; moral virtue.
Etymology
From Middle English goodnesse, godnesse, from Old English gōdnes (“goodness; virtue; kindness”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōdnassī (“goodness”), equivalent to good + -ness. Cognate with Scots guidness (“goodness”), West Frisian goedens (“goodness”), Old High German guotnessī (“goodness”), Middle High German guotnisse (“goodness”), Russian годность (godnostʹ, “suitability, fitness”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ggoodness,godness,godoness,gooddness,goodenss,goodnes,goodnness,goodnses,goondess,ogodness
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of goodness - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “goodness”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡʊdnəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “goddess” - see the side-by-side comparison. goodness vs goddess
- 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.