petrified

adj

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

The verdict

“petrified” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #27,960. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#27,960
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having undergone the process of petrification (transformation into a stony substance); turned to stone.

Corpus desk

Index EN-petrified · petrified · English

petrified · rank #27,960 · 13 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #27,960
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH pheasant

Nearest frequency peer: pheasant (+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 “petrified”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “petrified” 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).

petrified vs purified
78% similar

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

Key facts for petrified
PropertyValue
Headwordpetrified
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters9
Frequency rank#27,960
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “petrified”

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).petrifiedlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “pheasant” (#27,961), “photosynthesis” (#27,962), “parton” (#27,957). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “petrified” is #27,960. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around petrified, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #27,960 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for petrified, with forms such as "eptrified", "pertified", and "petirfied". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "purified", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is petrified, spelled P-E-T-R-I-F-I-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Having undergone the process of petrification (transformation into a stony substance); turned to stone.
  2. 2
    Extremely afraid.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On Yule-eve alone can petrified Giants receive back their life for the space of seven hours, if one of their race embraces them, and is, at the same time, willing to sacrifice a hundred years of their own life.
  2. Entering Avebury from any direction is like stepping back into the past. Before the centre of the village is reached, the road passes through an immense circle of brooding stones which stand like petrified ghosts of an age about which little is known.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eptrified
  • pertified
  • petirfied
  • petrfiied
  • petrifeid
  • petriffied
  • petrifide
  • petrifiedd
  • petriifed
  • petrrified
  • pettrified
  • ppetrified
  • pterified

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of petrified - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

eptrified2pertified2petirfied2petrfiied2petrifeid2petriffied1petrifide2petrifiedd1
Edit distance from "petrified"

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 "petrified"?
"petrified" is spelled P-E-T-R-I-F-I-E-D.
What does "petrified" mean?
As an adjective, "petrified" means: Having undergone the process of petrification (transformation into a stony substance); turned to stone.
What words are commonly confused with "petrified"?
"petrified" is commonly confused with "purified". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "petrified" come from?
"petrified" 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 "petrified", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list