misleading
/(ˌ)mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/
"misleading" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“misleading” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,318 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #8,318
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Deceptive or tending to mislead or create a false impression, even if technically true.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | misleading |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /(ˌ)mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #8,318 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “misleading” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for misleading is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /(ˌ)mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,318 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Deceptive or tending to mislead or create a false impression, even if technically true.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for misleading, with forms such as "imsleading", "milseading", and "miselading". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "misreading", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From mislead + -ing. The correct English form is misleading, spelled M-I-S-L-E-A-D-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Deceptive or tending to mislead or create a false impression, even if technically true.
Etymology
From mislead + -ing.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: imsleading,milseading,miselading,mislaeding,misleadding,misleadign,misleadingg,misleadinng,misleadnig,misleaidng,misledaing,mislleading,missleading,mmisleading,msileading
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of misleading - 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
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Using “misleading”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-S-L-E-A-D-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /(ˌ)mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “misreading” - see the side-by-side comparison. misleading vs misreading
- 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.