midwife

/ˈmɪd.waɪf/

//ˈmɪd.waɪf// noun

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

"midwife" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“midwife” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #20,428. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,428
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.

Corpus desk

Index EN-midwife · midwife · English

midwife · rank #20,428 · 10 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,428
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH midget

Nearest frequency peer: midget (-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 “midwife”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “midwife” 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

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

midwife vs midwifery
78% similar
midwife vs midlife
86% similar
midwife vs midline
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for midwife
PropertyValue
Headwordmidwife
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɪd.waɪf/
Letters7
Frequency rank#20,428
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “midwife”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).midwifelands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “midget” (#20,427), “minimizing” (#20,429), “MGM” (#20,426). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “midwife” is #20,428. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around midwife (IPA /ˈmɪd.waɪf/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #20,428 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for midwife, with forms such as "imdwife", "mdiwife", and "middwife". 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 also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "midwifery", "midlife", "midline", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (n… The correct English form is midwife, spelled M-I-D-W-I-F-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.
  2. 2
    Someone who assists in bringing about some result or project.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. A hundred years ago, a midwife would bring the baby into the world - going to a hospital to deliver a baby was either impossible or unheard of.
  2. Modernly, a hospital midwife is usually a registered nurse.

Etymology

From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (namely the mother).

Synonyms

accoucheuse

This word in other languages

partera(Español)sage-femme(Français)Hebamme(Deutsch)parteira(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • imdwife
  • mdiwife
  • middwife
  • midiwfe
  • midwfie
  • midwief
  • midwiffe
  • midwwife
  • miwdife
  • mmidwife

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of midwife - 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.

imdwife2mdiwife2middwife1midiwfe2midwfie2midwief2midwiffe1midwwife1
Edit distance from "midwife"

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 "midwife"?
"midwife" is spelled M-I-D-W-I-F-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɪd.waɪf/.
What does "midwife" mean?
As a noun, "midwife" means: A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.
What words are commonly confused with "midwife"?
"midwife" is commonly confused with "midwifery", "midlife", "midline". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "midwife"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "midwife" is /ˈmɪd.waɪf/. 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 "midwife"?
From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the... 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 "midwife", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

martini#20,424Loretta#20,419nagging#20,439Leipzig#20,410

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

inhuman10 variantsincense10 variantsimpetus10 variantsraiding10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list