muttering

noun

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

"muttering" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“muttering” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #30,892. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,892
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something that is muttered.

Corpus desk

Index EN-muttering · muttering · English

muttering · rank #30,892 · 12 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,892
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Muscat

Nearest frequency peer: Muscat (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “muttering”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “muttering” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

muttering vs metering
78% similar
muttering vs murdering
78% similar
muttering vs mastering
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for muttering
PropertyValue
Headwordmuttering
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#30,892
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “muttering”

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).mutteringlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Muscat” (#30,891), “N1” (#30,893), “multipurpose” (#30,890). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “muttering” is #30,892. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around muttering, anoun. Corpus frequency is #30,892 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for muttering, with forms such as "mmuttering", "mtutering", and "mutering". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "metering", "murdering", "mastering", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is muttering, spelled M-U-T-T-E-R-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Something that is muttered.
  2. 2
    A rumour.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. I managed to catch a few of his mutterings.

Synonyms

mumblage

This word in other languages

grommellement(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmuttering
  • mtutering
  • mutering
  • mutetring
  • mutteirng
  • mutterign
  • mutteringg
  • mutterinng
  • mutternig
  • mutterring
  • muttreing
  • umttering

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of muttering - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

mmuttering1mtutering2mutering1mutetring2mutteirng2mutterign2mutteringg1mutterinng1
Edit distance from "muttering"

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 "muttering"?
"muttering" is spelled M-U-T-T-E-R-I-N-G.
What does "muttering" mean?
As a noun, "muttering" means: Something that is muttered.
What words are commonly confused with "muttering"?
"muttering" is commonly confused with "metering", "murdering", "mastering". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "muttering" come from?
"muttering" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "muttering", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

morbidity#30,888mongering#30,886northerly#30,900loosening#30,870

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

marketer12 variantsLimbaugh12 variantspriestess12 variantsretelling12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list