irritating

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"irritating" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“irritating” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,798. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,798
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Causing irritation, annoyance or pain.

Corpus desk

Index EN-irritating · irritating · English

irritating · rank #12,798 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,798
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH invade

Nearest frequency peer: invade (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “irritating”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “irritating” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

irritating vs irritation
80% similar
irritating vs imitating
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for irritating
PropertyValue
Headwordirritating
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Frequency rank#12,798
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “irritating”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).irritatinglands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “invade” (#12,797), “Jacksonville” (#12,799), “interrupt” (#12,796). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “irritating” is #12,798. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around irritating, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #12,798 among 2,140 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for irritating, with forms such as "irirtating", "iritating", and "irriatting". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "irritation", "imitating", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is irritating, spelled I-R-R-I-T-A-T-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Causing irritation, annoyance or pain.
  2. 2
    Stimulating or exciting a response.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how irritating appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. irritating bureaucracy
  2. irritating music

This word in other languages

irritante(Español)énervant(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • irirtating
  • iritating
  • irriatting
  • irritaitng
  • irritatign
  • irritatingg
  • irritatinng
  • irritatnig
  • irritatting
  • irrittaing
  • irrittating
  • irrtiating
  • riritating

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of irritating - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

irirtating2iritating1irriatting2irritaitng2irritatign2irritatingg1irritatinng1irritatnig2
Edit distance from "irritating"

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 "irritating"?
"irritating" is spelled I-R-R-I-T-A-T-I-N-G.
What does "irritating" mean?
As an adjective, "irritating" means: Causing irritation, annoyance or pain.
What words are commonly confused with "irritating"?
"irritating" is commonly confused with "irritation", "imitating". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "irritating" come from?
"irritating" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "irritating", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

internship#12,795fraudulent#12,778physiology#12,828resentment#12,849

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

feminists13 variantsperpetual13 variantsexceeding13 variantsplaylist13 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list