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
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of, or arising from hysteria.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hysterical · hysterical · English
hysterical · rank #15,427 · 16 variants · 4 confusables
- FREQ-MID #15,427
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 16 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH hugging
Nearest frequency peer: hugging (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “hysterical”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- hopper
hopper
84,576 corpus weight
- hugging
hugging
84,575 corpus weight
- hysterical
hysterical
84,574 corpus weight
- implant
implant
84,573 corpus weight
- incompatible
incompatible
84,572 corpus weight
- inducing
inducing
84,571 corpus weight
What this shows “hysterical” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “hysterical”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 16 spelling variants around hysterical (IPA /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #15,427 among 2,646 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hysterical appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Henrietta gasped for breath; but she swallowed down the hysterical emotion, and signed with her hand for Walter to go on.
An event of this nature, a marriage, or a refusal, or a proposal, thrills through a whole household of women, and sets all their hysterical sympathies at work.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hysterical", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).