incapacitate
/ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/
"incapacitate" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“incapacitate” is uncommon English (frequency #62,217 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,217
- frequency rank, English
- 2,140
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.
Corpus desk
Index EN-incapacitate · incapacitate · English
incapacitate · rank #62,217 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #62,217
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,140
- PHOTO-FINISH impulsivity
Nearest frequency peer: impulsivity (-2 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.
Long-tail ranks near “incapacitate”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- iliac
iliac
37,789 corpus weight
- impel
impel
37,788 corpus weight
- imperiled
imperiled
37,787 corpus weight
- impulsivity
impulsivity
37,786 corpus weight
- incapacitate
incapacitate
37,784 corpus weight
- inductor
inductor
37,782 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “incapacitate” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | incapacitate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #62,217 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “incapacitate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
incapacitate is uncommon English at frequency #62,217 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for incapacitate in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Mid-17th century, from incapacity + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French incapaciter. The correct English form is incapacitate, spelled I-N-C-A-P-A-C-I-T-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.
- 2To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.
- 3To make someone ineligible; to disqualify.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how incapacitate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The police officer was incapacitated by a blow to the head.
Wilson's principal motivation for situation-oriented policies was the desire to change the real world by proposing politically practicable policies. And his principle prescription was to incapacitate a larger number of habitual offenders.
Etymology
Mid-17th century, from incapacity + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French incapaciter.
Synonyms
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 "incapacitate", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).