ingest
/ɪnˈd͡ʒɛst/
"ingest" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ingest” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,778 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #35,778
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To take (a substance, e.g., food) into the body of an organism, especially through the mouth and into the gastrointestinal tract.
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 | ingest |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛst/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #35,778 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ingest” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ingest is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛst/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,778 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 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for ingest, with forms such as "ignest", "inegst", and "ingesst". 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 16 confusable-pair relationships, "inlet", "inset", "invest", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin ingerō (“I carry in”). The correct English form is ingest, spelled I-N-G-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1To take (a substance, e.g., food) into the body of an organism, especially through the mouth and into the gastrointestinal tract.
- 2To cause (an undesired object or fluid) to enter the engine, generally via the intake.
- 3To bring or import into a system.
Etymology
From Latin ingerō (“I carry in”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ignest,inegst,ingesst,ingestt,ingets,inggest,ingset,inngest,nigest
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ingest - 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
How do you spell "ingest"?
What does "ingest" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “ingest”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-G-E-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “inlet” - see the side-by-side comparison. ingest vs inlet
- 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.