misbelieve

verb

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

The verdict

“misbelieve” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To believe incorrectly; hold to a false belief.

Corpus desk

Index EN-misbelieve · misbelieve · English

misbelieve · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for misbelieve
PropertyValue
Headwordmisbelieve
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “misbelieve” in English

misbelievefalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

misbelieve is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for misbelieve, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English misbelieven, misbileven, equivalent to mis- + believe. Compare earlier misbelief. The correct English form is misbelieve, spelled M-I-S-B-E-L-I-E-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To believe incorrectly; hold to a false belief.
  2. 2
    To disbelieve; doubt.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Verily, those who misbelieve and obstruct the way of God, have erred a wide error.

Etymology

From Middle English misbelieven, misbileven, equivalent to mis- + believe. Compare earlier misbelief.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "misbelieve"?
"misbelieve" is spelled M-I-S-B-E-L-I-E-V-E.
What does "misbelieve" mean?
As a verb, "misbelieve" means: To believe incorrectly; hold to a false belief.
What is the origin of the word "misbelieve"?
From Middle English misbelieven, misbileven, equivalent to mis- + believe. Compare earlier misbelief. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list