immediate
/ɪˈmiː.dɪət/
"immediate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“immediate” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,899 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #2,899
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Happening right away, instantly, with no delay.
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 | immediate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪˈmiː.dɪət/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #2,899 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “immediate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for immediate is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪˈmiː.dɪət/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,899 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 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 immediate, with forms such as "imediate", "imemdiate", and "immdeiate". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "immediately", "immediacy", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French immediat (French immédiat), borrowed from Late Latin immediātus (“without in-between, moderation”), from Latin in + mediātus, perfect passive participle of mediō (“to halve, to be in the middle”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from m… The correct English form is immediate, spelled I-M-M-E-D-I-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Happening right away, instantly, with no delay.
- 2Very close; direct or adjacent.
- 3Manifestly true; requiring no argument.
- 4Embedded as part of the instruction itself, rather than stored elsewhere (such as a register or memory location).
- 5Used to denote that a transmission is urgent.
- 6An artillery fire mission modifier for two types of fire mission to denote an immediate need for fire: Immediate smoke, all guns involved must reload smoke and fire. Immediate suppression, all guns involved fire the rounds currently loaded and then switch to high explosive with impact fused (unless fuses are specified).
Etymology
From Old French immediat (French immédiat), borrowed from Late Latin immediātus (“without in-between, moderation”), from Latin in + mediātus, perfect passive participle of mediō (“to halve, to be in the middle”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from medius (“middle”). By surface analysis, im- + mediate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: imediate,imemdiate,immdeiate,immedaite,immeddiate,immediaet,immediatte,immeditae,immeidate,mimediate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of immediate - 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 “immediate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-M-M-E-D-I-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪˈmiː.dɪət/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “immediately” - see the side-by-side comparison. immediate vs immediately
- 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.