pedantic
/pəˈdæn.tɪk/
"pedantic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pedantic” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #43,834. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #43,834
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pedantic · pedantic · English
pedantic · rank #43,834 · 12 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-MID #43,834
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH pegging
Nearest frequency peer: pegging (+2 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 “pedantic”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- pathetically
pathetically
56,171 corpus weight
- pathophysio…
pathophysiology
56,170 corpus weight
- pedantic
pedantic
56,167 corpus weight
- pegging
pegging
56,165 corpus weight
- Perthshire
Perthshire
56,163 corpus weight
- perturbation
perturbation
56,162 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pedantic” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pedantic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pəˈdæn.tɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #43,834 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pedantic” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around pedantic (IPA /pəˈdæn.tɪk/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #43,834 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for pedantic, with forms such as "epdantic", "pdeantic", and "peadntic". 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. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pedant + -ic. The correct English form is pedantic, spelled P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant.
- 2Tending to show off one’s knowledge, often in a tiresome manner.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pedantic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They had heard people call things pedantic, which they did not think were so ; for instance, a boy had once said that Harry himself was a pedant, for talking of the siege of Syracuse, and of the machines used there, because the boy knew nothing about them, and disliked reading. "Then you perceive," said his mother, "that the meaning of the word varies wit…
The style is pedantic and reviewish: but I can easily fancy states of mind to which it may be no less salutary on that account.
Etymology
From pedant + -ic.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- epdantic
- pdeantic
- peadntic
- pedanitc
- pedanntic
- pedantci
- pedanticc
- pedanttic
- pedatnic
- peddantic
- pednatic
- ppedantic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pedantic - 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.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pedantic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "pedantic". Here's where to go from here.
- 12 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #43,834 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.