hardened
/ˈhɑːdn̩d/
"hardened" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hardened” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #14,555. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #14,555
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past and past participle of harden
Corpus desk
Index EN-hardened · hardened · English
hardened · rank #14,555 · 12 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-MID #14,555
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH harden
Nearest frequency peer: harden (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “hardened”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- grouped
grouped
85,449 corpus weight
- halted
halted
85,448 corpus weight
- harden
harden
85,447 corpus weight
- hardened
hardened
85,446 corpus weight
- hateful
hateful
85,445 corpus weight
- haunting
haunting
85,444 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “hardened” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | hardened |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈhɑːdn̩d/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #14,555 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hardened” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around hardened (IPA /ˈhɑːdn̩d/), averb. Corpus frequency is #14,555 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of harden".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for hardened, with forms such as "ahrdened", "hadrened", and "harddened". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "hastened", "harden", "happened", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is hardened, spelled H-A-R-D-E-N-E-D.
Definition
- 1simple past and past participle of harden
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how hardened appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
hardened steel
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ahrdened
- hadrened
- harddened
- hardeend
- hardende
- hardenedd
- hardenned
- hardneed
- haredned
- harrdened
- hhardened
- hradened
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hardened - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "hardened"?
What does "hardened" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hardened", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "hardened". Here's where to go from here.
- "hardened" maps to 3 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "hastened". View pair
- 12 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #14,555 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.