malformation
"malformation" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“malformation” is uncommon English (frequency #57,546 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,546
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An abnormal formation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-malformation · malformation · English
malformation · rank #57,546 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,546
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Mainwaring
Nearest frequency peer: Mainwaring (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “malformation”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Mahendra
Mahendra
42,458 corpus weight
- Mainwaring
Mainwaring
42,456 corpus weight
- malformation
malformation
42,455 corpus weight
- manes
manes
42,454 corpus weight
- maquis
maquis
42,453 corpus weight
- Maritimes
Maritimes
42,452 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “malformation” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | malformation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #57,546 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “malformation” in English
Rare enough to double-check
malformation is uncommon English at frequency #57,546 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for malformation in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From mal- + formation. The correct English form is malformation, spelled M-A-L-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1An abnormal formation.
- 2An abnormal developmental feature of offspring.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how malformation appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; […]
Etymology
From mal- + formation.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "malformation", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).