misbehave
"misbehave" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“misbehave” is uncommon English (frequency #52,493 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,493
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To act or behave in an inappropriate, improper, incorrect, or unexpected manner.
Corpus desk
Index EN-misbehave · misbehave · English
misbehave · rank #52,493 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,493
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH misshapen
Nearest frequency peer: misshapen (+3 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.
Long-tail ranks near “misbehave”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- MDM
MDM
47,515 corpus weight
- merriment
merriment
47,513 corpus weight
- misbehave
misbehave
47,508 corpus weight
- misshapen
misshapen
47,505 corpus weight
- Mississippi…
Mississippian
47,504 corpus weight
- Mogg
Mogg
47,501 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “misbehave” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “misbehave” in English
Rare enough to double-check
misbehave is uncommon English at frequency #52,493 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how misbehave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He doesn't mean to misbehave; he just doesn't know better.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "misbehave", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).