investigate
/ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/
"investigate" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“investigate” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,243 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #4,243
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information.
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 | investigate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #4,243 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “investigate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for investigate is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,243 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for investigate, with forms such as "inevstigate", "innvestigate", and "invesitgate". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "investigator", "investigative", "instigate", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Recorded since circa 1510, a back-formation from investigation on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from Latin investīgātiō (“a searching into”), from investīgātus, the perfect passive participle of investīgō, equivalent to in- + vestigate. Displaced… The correct English form is investigate, spelled I-N-V-E-S-T-I-G-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information.
- 2To examine, look into, or scrutinize in order to discover something hidden or secret.
- 3To conduct an inquiry or examination.
Etymology
Recorded since circa 1510, a back-formation from investigation on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from Latin investīgātiō (“a searching into”), from investīgātus, the perfect passive participle of investīgō, equivalent to in- + vestigate. Displaced native Old English undersēċan (literally “to search under or between”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: inevstigate,innvestigate,invesitgate,invesstigate,investgiate,investiagte,investigaet,investigatte,investiggate,investigtae,investtigate,invetsigate,invsetigate,invvestigate,ivnestigate,nivestigate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of investigate - 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
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Using “investigate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-V-E-S-T-I-G-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “investigator” - see the side-by-side comparison. investigate vs investigator
- 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.