mastectomy

/ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi/

//ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi// noun

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

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

The verdict

“mastectomy” has 16 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #41,757. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#41,757
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
16
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The surgical procedure to remove all or part of a breast and sometimes nearby tissues.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mastectomy · mastectomy · English

mastectomy · rank #41,757 · 16 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #41,757
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 16 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH marquise

Nearest frequency peer: marquise (-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 “mastectomy”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “mastectomy” 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
Key facts for mastectomy
PropertyValue
Headwordmastectomy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi/
Letters10
Frequency rank#41,757
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “mastectomy”

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).mastectomylands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “marquise” (#41,756), “McRae” (#41,759), “Marbella” (#41,754). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mastectomy” is #41,757. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 16 spelling variants around mastectomy (IPA /ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #41,757 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The surgical procedure to remove all or part of a breast and sometimes nearby tissues.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for mastectomy, with forms such as "amstectomy", "masetctomy", and "masstectomy". 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 is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mast- + -ectomy. The correct English form is mastectomy, spelled M-A-S-T-E-C-T-O-M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The surgical procedure to remove all or part of a breast and sometimes nearby tissues.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Three years later came Angelina Jolie’s revelation that she had the BRCA1 gene, and had decided to have a double mastectomy. The story topped the news, and was written about for days afterwards.
  2. An estimate of U.S. “gender-affirming” double mastectomies published in 2023 in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported 3,125 cases of “breast or chest procedures” in patients ages 12 to 18 between 2016 to 2020.

Etymology

From mast- + -ectomy.

This word in other languages

mastectomía(Español)mastectomie(Français)Mastektomie(Deutsch)mastectomia(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amstectomy
  • masetctomy
  • masstectomy
  • mastcetomy
  • mastecctomy
  • mastecotmy
  • mastectmoy
  • mastectommy
  • mastectomyy
  • mastectoym
  • mastecttomy
  • mastetcomy
  • masttectomy
  • matsectomy
  • mmastectomy
  • msatectomy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mastectomy - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

amstectomy2masetctomy2masstectomy1mastcetomy2mastecctomy1mastecotmy2mastectmoy2mastectommy1
Edit distance from "mastectomy"

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 "mastectomy"?
"mastectomy" is spelled M-A-S-T-E-C-T-O-M-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi/.
What does "mastectomy" mean?
As a noun, "mastectomy" means: The surgical procedure to remove all or part of a breast and sometimes nearby tissues.
What are common misspellings of "mastectomy"?
Common misspellings include "amstectomy", "masetctomy", "masstectomy", "mastcetomy", "mastecctomy". The correct spelling is "mastectomy".
How do you pronounce "mastectomy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mastectomy" is /ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "mastectomy"?
From mast- + -ectomy. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "mastectomy", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Longfellow#41,740multitudes#41,776northwards#41,789persisting#41,807

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).

interrelated16 variantsprejudicial16 variantsritualistic16 variantssnapdragon16 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list