insufficiency
/ɪnsəˈfɪʃənsi/
"insufficiency" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“insufficiency” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #42,207 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #42,207
- frequency rank, English
- 13
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The lack of sufficiency: a shortage, the state of having or being not enough (of something).
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 | insufficiency |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənsi/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #42,207 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “insufficiency” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for insufficiency is 13 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənsi/. Corpus data places it at rank #42,207 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The lack of sufficiency: a shortage, the state of having or being not enough (of something).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for insufficiency, with forms such as "innsufficiency", "insfuficiency", and "inssufficiency". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "insufficient", "insufficiently", "inefficiency", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From in- + sufficiency. The correct English form is insufficiency, spelled I-N-S-U-F-F-I-C-I-E-N-C-Y.
Definition
- 1The lack of sufficiency: a shortage, the state of having or being not enough (of something).
Etymology
From in- + sufficiency.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: innsufficiency,insfuficiency,inssufficiency,insuffciiency,insufficciency,insufficeincy,insufficiecny,insufficienccy,insufficiencyy,insufficienncy,insufficienyc,insufficinecy,insuffiicency,insuficiency,insufifciency,inusfficiency,isnufficiency,nisufficiency
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of insufficiency - 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 "insufficiency"?
What does "insufficiency" mean?
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Using “insufficiency”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-S-U-F-F-I-C-I-E-N-C-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənsi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “insufficient” - see the side-by-side comparison. insufficiency vs insufficient
- 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.