pairwise
/ˈpɛə.waɪz/
"pairwise" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pairwise” is uncommon English (frequency #56,962 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,962
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Occurring in pairs; two at a time.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pairwise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpɛə.waɪz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #56,962 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pairwise” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
pairwise is uncommon English at frequency #56,962 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈpɛə.waɪz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Occurring in pairs; two at a time.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pairwise, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pair + -wise. The correct English form is pairwise, spelled P-A-I-R-W-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Occurring in pairs; two at a time.
Etymology
From pair + -wise.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “pairwise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-I-R-W-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɛə.waɪz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this 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.