misquote

/mɪsˈkwəʊt/

//mɪsˈkwəʊt// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"misquote" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“misquote” is uncommon English (frequency #92,884 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,884
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To incorrectly recite or record a quotation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-misquote · misquote · English

misquote · rank #92,884 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,884
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH misconceived

Nearest frequency peer: misconceived (-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 “misquote”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “misquote” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for misquote
PropertyValue
Headwordmisquote
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/mɪsˈkwəʊt/
Letters8
Frequency rank#92,884
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “misquote” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).misquotefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “misconceived” (#92,883), “Mithra” (#92,885), “minutia” (#92,882). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “misquote” is #92,884. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

misquote is uncommon English at frequency #92,884 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /mɪsˈkwəʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To incorrectly recite or record a quotation.".

misquote doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mis- + quote. The correct English form is misquote, spelled M-I-S-Q-U-O-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To incorrectly recite or record a quotation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I'm so embarrassed, I misquoted Hamlet to a professor of Shakespeare.
  2. The newspaper had to publish a correction after they misquoted the President.

Etymology

From mis- + quote.

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 "misquote"?
"misquote" is spelled M-I-S-Q-U-O-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /mɪsˈkwəʊt/.
What does "misquote" mean?
As a verb, "misquote" means: To incorrectly recite or record a quotation.
How do you pronounce "misquote"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "misquote" is /mɪsˈkwəʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "misquote"?
From mis- + quote. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "misquote", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

moonbase#92,892McKinlay#92,856Newspeak#92,917nightjar#92,923

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list