mischievous
/ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪ.vəs/
"mischievous" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mischievous” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,905 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #23,905
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Causing mischief; injurious.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mischievous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪ.vəs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #23,905 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mischievous” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mischievous is 11 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪ.vəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,905 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for mischievous, with forms such as "imschievous", "micshievous", and "miscchievous". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English myschevous, mischevous, from Anglo-Norman meschevous, from Old French meschever, from mes- (“mis-”) + chever (“come to an end”) (from chef (“head”)). By surface analysis, mischief + -ous. The correct English form is mischievous, spelled M-I-S-C-H-I-E-V-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Causing mischief; injurious.
- 2Troublesome, cheeky, badly behaved, impish, naughty, disobedient; showing a fondness for causing trouble in a playful way and liking to have fun by playing harmless tricks on people or doing things they are not supposed to do.
Etymology
From Middle English myschevous, mischevous, from Anglo-Norman meschevous, from Old French meschever, from mes- (“mis-”) + chever (“come to an end”) (from chef (“head”)). By surface analysis, mischief + -ous.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: imschievous,micshievous,miscchievous,mischeivous,mischhievous,mischieovus,mischievosu,mischievouss,mischievuos,mischievvous,mischiveous,miscihevous,mishcievous,misschievous,mmischievous,msichievous
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mischievous - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "mischievous"?
What does "mischievous" mean?
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Using “mischievous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-S-C-H-I-E-V-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪ.vəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.