overwinter
/ˌəʊ.vəˈwɪn.tə/
"overwinter" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“overwinter” is uncommon English (frequency #96,329 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,329
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To keep or preserve for the winter.
Corpus desk
Index EN-overwinter · overwinter · English
overwinter · rank #96,329 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,329
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 15,494
- PHOTO-FINISH oviposition
Nearest frequency peer: oviposition (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “overwinter”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Otani
Otani
3,677 corpus weight
- overwinter
overwinter
3,672 corpus weight
- oviposition
oviposition
3,671 corpus weight
- paining
paining
3,670 corpus weight
- paratransit
paratransit
3,667 corpus weight
- parthenogen…
parthenogenesis
3,664 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “overwinter” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | overwinter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌəʊ.vəˈwɪn.tə/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #96,329 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “overwinter” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
overwinter is uncommon English at frequency #96,329 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˌəʊ.vəˈwɪn.tə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for overwinter, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From over- + winter. Compare Dutch overwinteren, German überwintern. The correct English form is overwinter, spelled O-V-E-R-W-I-N-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1To keep or preserve for the winter.
- 2To spend the winter (in a particular place).
Etymology
From over- + winter. Compare Dutch overwinteren, German überwintern.
This word in other languages
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "overwinter", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.