lethality
/liˈθælɪti/
"lethality" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lethality” is uncommon English (frequency #51,820 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,820
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The fact of something being lethal; the ability of something to kill.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lethality · lethality · English
lethality · rank #51,820 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,820
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH Leong
Nearest frequency peer: Leong (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “lethality”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- legate
legate
48,185 corpus weight
- Legoland
Legoland
48,184 corpus weight
- Leong
Leong
48,182 corpus weight
- lethality
lethality
48,181 corpus weight
- levitate
levitate
48,180 corpus weight
- levitation
levitation
48,179 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “lethality” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lethality |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /liˈθælɪti/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #51,820 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lethality” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
lethality is uncommon English at frequency #51,820 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /liˈθælɪti/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for lethality, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From lethal + -ity. The correct English form is lethality, spelled L-E-T-H-A-L-I-T-Y.
Definition
- 1The fact of something being lethal; the ability of something to kill.
- 2The degree of lethal (mortal) danger that something (usually a disease or a weapon) presents; the magnitude of its power to kill organisms exposed to it; this property is indirectly measured by any of various proxy rates, including mortality rate, case fatality rate, or infection fatality rate (for diseases) or kill rate (for weapons, pesticides, or parasites).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lethality appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Title 10 section 129a of the US code governing civilian personnel management in the armed forces says that the secretary of defense “may not reduce the civilian workforce programmed full-time equivalent levels unless the Secretary conducts an appropriate analysis” of how those firings could impact the US military’s lethality and readiness.
In announcing the review, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new health secretary, said in a statement that “antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.”
Etymology
From lethal + -ity.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lethality", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "lethality". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #51,820 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse
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PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.