painstaking
/ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/
"painstaking" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“painstaking” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,690 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #31,690
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Carefully attentive to details; studious; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | painstaking |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #31,690 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “painstaking” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for painstaking is 11 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,690 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Carefully attentive to details; studious; diligent in performing a process or procedure.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for painstaking, with forms such as "apinstaking", "painnstaking", and "painsatking". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "painstakingly", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pains + taking; see take pains. The /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ pronunciation which dominates in the United States suggests a reanalysis of the word as pain + staking. The correct English form is painstaking, spelled P-A-I-N-S-T-A-K-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Carefully attentive to details; studious; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
Etymology
From pains + taking; see take pains. The /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ pronunciation which dominates in the United States suggests a reanalysis of the word as pain + staking.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apinstaking,painnstaking,painsatking,painsstaking,painstaikng,painstakign,painstakingg,painstakinng,painstakking,painstaknig,painstkaing,painsttaking,paintsaking,paisntaking,panistaking,pianstaking,ppainstaking
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of painstaking - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "painstaking"?
What does "painstaking" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "painstaking"?
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Using “painstaking”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-I-N-S-T-A-K-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “painstakingly” - see the side-by-side comparison. painstaking vs painstakingly
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.