insects
/ˈɪnsɛkts/
"insects" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“insects” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,924 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,924
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of insect
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 | insects |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪnsɛkts/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #6,924 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “insects” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for insects is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪnsɛkts/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,924 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "plural of insect".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for insects, with forms such as "inescts", "innsects", and "inscets". 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. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "inset", "insert", "insists", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is insects, spelled I-N-S-E-C-T-S.
Definition
- 1plural of insect
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: inescts,innsects,inscets,inseccts,insecst,insectss,insectts,insetcs,inssects,isnects,nisects
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of insects - 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
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Using “insects”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-S-E-C-T-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪnsɛkts/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “inset” - see the side-by-side comparison. insects vs inset
- 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.