plasmid
/ˈplæzmɪd/
"plasmid" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“plasmid” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,823. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #42,823
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A loop of double-stranded DNA that is separate from — and replicates independently of — the chromosomes; such loops are most commonly found in bacteria, but they are also sometimes found in archaea...
Corpus desk
Index EN-plasmid · plasmid · English
plasmid · rank #42,823 · 11 variants · 4 confusables
- FREQ-MID #42,823
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH playthrough
Nearest frequency peer: playthrough (+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 “plasmid”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- phenotypic
phenotypic
57,183 corpus weight
- Philippians
Philippians
57,182 corpus weight
- plasmid
plasmid
57,178 corpus weight
- playthrough
playthrough
57,177 corpus weight
- pleaser
pleaser
57,176 corpus weight
- Pliocene
Pliocene
57,175 corpus weight
What this shows “plasmid” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | plasmid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈplæzmɪd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #42,823 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “plasmid”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around plasmid (IPA /ˈplæzmɪd/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,823 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A loop of double-stranded DNA that is separate from — and replicates independently of — the chromosomes; such loops are most commonly found in bacteria, but they are also sometimes found in archaea...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for plasmid, with forms such as "lpasmid", "palsmid", and "plamsid". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "plastic", "plaid", "plasma", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From plasma + -id, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg in 1952. The correct English form is plasmid, spelled P-L-A-S-M-I-D.
Definition
- 1A loop of double-stranded DNA that is separate from — and replicates independently of — the chromosomes; such loops are most commonly found in bacteria, but they are also sometimes found in archaeans and eukaryotic cells, and they are used in genetic engineering as a vector for gene transfer.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how plasmid appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
These discussions have left a plethora of terms adrift: pangenes, bioblasts, plasmagenes, plastogenes, chondriogenes, cytogenes and proviruses, which have lost their original utility owing to the accretion of vague or contradictory connotations. At the risk of adding to this list, I propose plasmid as a generic term for any extrachromosomal hereditary det…
This is how the F (for "fertility") plasmid, which forms the basis of a lot of classical E. coli genetics, is transferred from one cell to another.
Etymology
From plasma + -id, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg in 1952.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- lpasmid
- palsmid
- plamsid
- plasimd
- plasmdi
- plasmidd
- plasmmid
- plassmid
- pllasmid
- plsamid
- pplasmid
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plasmid - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "plasmid", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).