infectivity

noun

"infectivity" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“infectivity” is uncommon English (frequency #93,829 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,829
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The ability of a pathogen to establish an infection

Corpus desk

Index EN-infectivity · infectivity · English

infectivity · rank #93,829 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #93,829
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH indicia

Nearest frequency peer: indicia (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “infectivity”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “infectivity” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for infectivity
PropertyValue
Headwordinfectivity
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#93,829
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “infectivity” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).infectivityfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “indicia” (#93,828), “infringer” (#93,830), “intermezzo” (#93,832). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “infectivity” is #93,829. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

infectivity is uncommon English at frequency #93,829 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The ability of a pathogen to establish an infection".

No generated misspelling entries exist for infectivity in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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: From infective + -ity. The correct English form is infectivity, spelled I-N-F-E-C-T-I-V-I-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The ability of a pathogen to establish an infection

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how infectivity appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The reputation for low infectivity of rubella was probably based on failure to recognise rashless cases.

Etymology

From infective + -ity.

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 "infectivity"?
"infectivity" is spelled I-N-F-E-C-T-I-V-I-T-Y.
What does "infectivity" mean?
As a noun, "infectivity" means: The ability of a pathogen to establish an infection
What is the origin of the word "infectivity"?
From infective + -ity. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "infectivity", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list