mass extinction
"mass-extinction" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mass extinction” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sharp decrease in the total number of species in a relatively short period of time; specifically, a loss of ∼75% of all species on the planet over a geologically interval of less than 3 million y...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mass extinction |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mass extinction” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mass extinction is 15 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A sharp decrease in the total number of species in a relatively short period of time; specifically, a loss of ∼75% of all species on the planet over a geologically interval of less than 3 million y...".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for mass extinction, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is mass extinction, spelled M-A-S-S- -E-X-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1A sharp decrease in the total number of species in a relatively short period of time; specifically, a loss of ∼75% of all species on the planet over a geologically interval of less than 3 million years, as a result of a mass extinction event.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “mass extinction”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-S-S- -E-X-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.