misbehave
"misbehave" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“misbehave” is an uncommon English word, ranked #52,493 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #52,493
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To act or behave in an inappropriate, improper, incorrect, or unexpected manner.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | misbehave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #52,493 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “misbehave” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for misbehave is 9 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #52,493 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To act or behave in an inappropriate, improper, incorrect, or unexpected manner.".
Zero misspellings are on record for misbehave in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English misbehaven, equivalent to mis- + behave. The correct English form is misbehave, spelled M-I-S-B-E-H-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1To act or behave in an inappropriate, improper, incorrect, or unexpected manner.
Etymology
From Middle English misbehaven, equivalent to mis- + behave.
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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Using “misbehave”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-S-B-E-H-A-V-E - 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.