misconstrue
/mɪskənˈstɹuː/
"misconstrue" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“misconstrue” is uncommon English (frequency #90,737 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,737
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand.
Corpus desk
Index EN-misconstrue · misconstrue · English
misconstrue · rank #90,737 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,737
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Miquelon
Nearest frequency peer: Miquelon (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “misconstrue”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- mineshaft
mineshaft
9,267 corpus weight
- Minya
Minya
9,266 corpus weight
- Miquelon
Miquelon
9,265 corpus weight
- misconstrue
misconstrue
9,264 corpus weight
- mizzen
mizzen
9,262 corpus weight
- mollify
mollify
9,261 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “misconstrue” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | misconstrue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /mɪskənˈstɹuː/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #90,737 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “misconstrue” in English
Rare enough to double-check
misconstrue is uncommon English at frequency #90,737 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /mɪskənˈstɹuː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for misconstrue, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English misconstruen, equivalent to mis- + construe. The correct English form is misconstrue, spelled M-I-S-C-O-N-S-T-R-U-E.
Definition
- 1To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how misconstrue appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His words were misconstrued as an insult.
It’s easy to misconstrue her silence as agreement.
Etymology
From Middle English misconstruen, equivalent to mis- + construe.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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 "misconstrue", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).