mistaken
/mɪˈsteɪkn̩/adjective, verb
mistaken is spelled M-I-S-T-A-K-E-N: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, mistaken means “Erroneous” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in mistaken?
| Letters | 8: M-I-S-T-A-K-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is mistaken?
Mistaken appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th 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).
How do you pronounce mistaken?
- /mɪˈsteɪkn̩/
Mistaken has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mistaken.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mistaken
- more mistaken comparative
- most mistaken superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mistaken mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Erroneous.
A mistaken sense of loyalty.
- 2
Having an incorrect belief.
I think you must be (very) much mistaken.
verb
- 1
past participle of mistake
I'm frequently mistaken for my brother.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does mistaken come from?
Morphologically mistake + -n.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).