headmistress
"headmistress" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“headmistress” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #42,691 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #42,691
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A female headteacher.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | headmistress |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #42,691 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “headmistress” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for headmistress is 12 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #42,691 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A female headteacher.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for headmistress, with forms such as "ehadmistress", "haedmistress", and "headdmistress". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Compound of head + mistress. The correct English form is headmistress, spelled H-E-A-D-M-I-S-T-R-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1A female headteacher.
Etymology
Compound of head + mistress.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ehadmistress,haedmistress,headdmistress,headimstress,headmisrtess,headmisstress,headmisterss,headmistres,headmistrress,headmistrses,headmisttress,headmitsress,headmmistress,headmsitress,heamdistress,hedamistress,hheadmistress
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of headmistress - 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.
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 “headmistress”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-A-D-M-I-S-T-R-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.