missense
noun, verb
missense is spelled M-I-S-S-E-N-S-E: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 117,098th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, missense means “A damaged DNA sequence that is meaningful but has an incorrect meaning, with the result that its products do not do what they are supposed to do” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of missense is missenses.
How many letters and syllables are in missense?
| Letters | 8: M-I-S-S-E-N-S-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 15 million words; the 117,098th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is missense?
Missense appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 117,098th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of missense
- missenses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- missensing participle, present
- missensed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does missense mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A damaged DNA sequence that is meaningful but has an incorrect meaning, with the result that its products do not do what they are supposed to do.
verb
- 1
To sense incorrectly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does missense come from?
From mis- + sense.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).