metastable
"metastable" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“metastable” is uncommon English (frequency #78,821 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,821
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or pertaining to a physical or chemical state that is relatively long-lived, but may decay to a lower energy state when slightly perturbed or through a quantum transition.
Corpus desk
Index EN-metastable · metastable · English
metastable · rank #78,821 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,821
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 36,575
- PHOTO-FINISH metallurgist
Nearest frequency peer: metallurgist (-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 “metastable”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Mendelian
Mendelian
21,183 corpus weight
- meritocratic
meritocratic
21,182 corpus weight
- metallurgist
metallurgist
21,181 corpus weight
- metastable
metastable
21,180 corpus weight
- methacrylate
methacrylate
21,179 corpus weight
- milch
milch
21,176 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “metastable” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | metastable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #78,821 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “metastable” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
metastable is uncommon English at frequency #78,821 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of or pertaining to a physical or chemical state that is relatively long-lived, but may decay to a lower energy state when slightly perturbed or through a quantum transition.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for metastable in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From meta- + stable. The correct English form is metastable, spelled M-E-T-A-S-T-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to a physical or chemical state that is relatively long-lived, but may decay to a lower energy state when slightly perturbed or through a quantum transition.
Etymology
From meta- + stable.
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 May 6, 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 "metastable", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.