inhibitory
"inhibitory" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“inhibitory” has 15 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #30,845. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #30,845
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - That inhibits.
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 | inhibitory |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #30,845 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “inhibitory” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 15 spelling variants around inhibitory, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #30,845 among 17,902 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for inhibitory, with forms such as "ihnibitory", "inhbiitory", and "inhhibitory". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "inhibitor", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From late 15th century (early modern English). Formed as inhibit + -ory or adapted from Medieval Latin inhibitōrius and Middle French inhibitoire. The correct English form is inhibitory, spelled I-N-H-I-B-I-T-O-R-Y.
Definition
- 1That inhibits.
- 2Of, or relating to an inhibitor.
Etymology
From late 15th century (early modern English). Formed as inhibit + -ory or adapted from Medieval Latin inhibitōrius and Middle French inhibitoire.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ihnibitory
- inhbiitory
- inhhibitory
- inhibbitory
- inhibiotry
- inhibitorry
- inhibitoryy
- inhibitoyr
- inhibitroy
- inhibittory
- inhibtiory
- inhiibtory
- inihbitory
- innhibitory
- nihibitory
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of inhibitory - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "inhibitory"?
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Using “inhibitory”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-H-I-B-I-T-O-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “inhibitor” - see the side-by-side comparison. inhibitory vs inhibitor
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.