politeness

/pəˈlaɪtnəs/

//pəˈlaɪtnəs// noun

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

"politeness" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“politeness” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #31,709. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#31,709
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
13
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality of being polite.

Corpus desk

Index EN-politeness · politeness · English

politeness · rank #31,709 · 13 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #31,709
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH plowed

Nearest frequency peer: plowed (-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 “politeness”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “politeness” 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
Key facts for politeness
PropertyValue
Headwordpoliteness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pəˈlaɪtnəs/
Letters10
Frequency rank#31,709
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “politeness”

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).politenesslands 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 “plowed” (#31,708), “pomegranate” (#31,710), “Ponzi” (#31,711). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “politeness” is #31,709. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around politeness (IPA /pəˈlaɪtnəs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #31,709 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 politeness, with forms such as "opliteness", "ploiteness", and "poilteness". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From polite + -ness. The correct English form is politeness, spelled P-O-L-I-T-E-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The quality of being polite.
  2. 2
    A polite act.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. These politenesses left Miss Marley floundering for initiative, holding Jasper and being solemnly inspected by Podson, who clearly depended on her the convention of an afternoon call.

Etymology

From polite + -ness.

Synonyms

civilitycourtesycourtlinessetiquettegracecivilitycourtesy

Antonyms

impolitenessrudeness

This word in other languages

educación(Español)politesse(Français)Höflichkeit(Deutsch)educação(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opliteness
  • ploiteness
  • poilteness
  • polietness
  • politeenss
  • politenes
  • politenness
  • politenses
  • politneess
  • politteness
  • polliteness
  • poltieness
  • ppoliteness

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of politeness - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

opliteness2ploiteness2poilteness2polietness2politeenss2politenes1politenness1politenses2
Edit distance from "politeness"

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 "politeness"?
"politeness" is spelled P-O-L-I-T-E-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈlaɪtnəs/.
What does "politeness" mean?
As a noun, "politeness" means: The quality of being polite.
What are common misspellings of "politeness"?
Common misspellings include "opliteness", "ploiteness", "poilteness", "polietness", "politeenss". The correct spelling is "politeness".
How do you pronounce "politeness"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "politeness" is /pəˈlaɪtnəs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "politeness"?
From polite + -ness. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "politeness", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

photoshoot#31,701perceptual#31,699overstated#31,688revocation#31,734

Similar misspelling depth

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

Richland13 variantsscalable13 variantsmoonshine13 variantssensibly13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list