plodding

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"plodding" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“plodding” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #48,972. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#48,972
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Slow, laborious progress.

Corpus desk

Index EN-plodding · plodding · English

plodding · rank #48,972 · 11 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #48,972
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH pluralistic

Nearest frequency peer: pluralistic (+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 “plodding”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “plodding” 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).

plodding vs pudding
75% similar
plodding vs prodding
88% similar
plodding vs padding
75% similar

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

Key facts for plodding
PropertyValue
Headwordplodding
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#48,972
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “plodding”

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).ploddinglands 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 “pluralistic” (#48,973), “pika” (#48,970), “piet” (#48,969). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “plodding” is #48,972. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around plodding, anoun. Corpus frequency is #48,972 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Slow, laborious progress.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for plodding, with forms such as "lpodding", "pldoding", and "pllodding". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "pudding", "prodding", "padding", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is plodding, spelled P-L-O-D-D-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Slow, laborious progress.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. I'd count not wearisome / Long toil, nor enterprise, / But strain to reach it; aye, with wrestlings stout / And hopes that even in the dark will grow / (Like plants in dungeons, reaching feelers out), / And ploddings wary and slow.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • lpodding
  • pldoding
  • pllodding
  • ploddign
  • ploddingg
  • ploddinng
  • ploddnig
  • plodidng
  • ploding
  • poldding
  • pplodding

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plodding - 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.

lpodding2pldoding2pllodding1ploddign2ploddingg1ploddinng1ploddnig2plodidng2
Edit distance from "plodding"

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 "plodding"?
"plodding" is spelled P-L-O-D-D-I-N-G.
What does "plodding" mean?
As a noun, "plodding" means: Slow, laborious progress.
What words are commonly confused with "plodding"?
"plodding" is commonly confused with "pudding", "prodding", "padding". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "plodding" come from?
"plodding" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "plodding", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

poetical#48,975perusing#48,965recliner#49,000Oldfield#48,941

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

Okanagan11 variantsobligate11 variantsRickard11 variantsRudyard11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list