hysterical
/hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/
"hysterical" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hysterical” has 16 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,427. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,427
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of, or arising from hysteria.
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 | hysterical |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #15,427 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hysterical” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 16 spelling variants around hysterical (IPA /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #15,427 among 23,837 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for hysterical, with forms such as "hhysterical", "hsyterical", and "hysetrical". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "hysterics", "hysterically", "hysteria", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hŭstérā, “womb”). The correct English form is hysterical, spelled H-Y-S-T-E-R-I-C-A-L.
Definition
- 1Of, or arising from hysteria.
- 2Having, or prone to having hysterics.
- 3Provoking uncontrollable laughter.
Etymology
From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hŭstérā, “womb”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhysterical,hsyterical,hysetrical,hyssterical,hysteircal,hystercial,hysteriacl,hystericall,hystericcal,hystericla,hysterrical,hystreical,hystterical,hytserical,hyysterical,yhsterical
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hysterical - 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
How do you spell "hysterical"?
What does "hysterical" mean?
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Using “hysterical”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-Y-S-T-E-R-I-C-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hysterics” - see the side-by-side comparison. hysterical vs hysterics
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.