ingenious
/ɪnˈd͡ʒiːnjəs/
"ingenious" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ingenious” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,347 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #18,347
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of a person, displaying genius or brilliance; inventive.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ingenious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːnjəs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #18,347 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ingenious” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ingenious is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːnjəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,347 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for ingenious, with forms such as "ignenious", "inegnious", and "ingeinous". 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. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French ingénieux, from Old French engenious, from Latin ingeniōsus (“endowed with good natural capacity, gifted with genius”), from ingenium (“innate or natural quality, natural capacity, genius”), from in- (“in”) + gignere (“to produce… The correct English form is ingenious, spelled I-N-G-E-N-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Of a person, displaying genius or brilliance; inventive.
- 2Of a thing, characterized by genius; cleverly contrived or done.
- 3Showing originality or sagacity; witty.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French ingénieux, from Old French engenious, from Latin ingeniōsus (“endowed with good natural capacity, gifted with genius”), from ingenium (“innate or natural quality, natural capacity, genius”), from in- (“in”) + gignere (“to produce”), Old Latin genere. See also engine.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ignenious,inegnious,ingeinous,ingeniosu,ingeniouss,ingeniuos,ingennious,ingenoius,inggenious,ingneious,inngenious,nigenious
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ingenious - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “ingenious”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-G-E-N-I-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːnjəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.