possessed
/pəˈzɛst/
"possessed" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“possessed” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,972. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,972
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past and past participle of possess
Corpus desk
Index EN-possessed · possessed · English
possessed · rank #8,972 · 10 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,972
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Princeton
Nearest frequency peer: Princeton (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “possessed”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Peterson
Peterson
91,033 corpus weight
- porch
porch
91,031 corpus weight
- possessed
possessed
91,029 corpus weight
- Princeton
Princeton
91,028 corpus weight
- proposition
proposition
91,027 corpus weight
- railways
railways
91,026 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “possessed” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | possessed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /pəˈzɛst/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #8,972 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “possessed” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around possessed (IPA /pəˈzɛst/), averb. Corpus frequency is #8,972 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of possess".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for possessed, with forms such as "opssessed", "posessed", and "posesssed". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "possesses", "possessor", "possess", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is possessed, spelled P-O-S-S-E-S-S-E-D.
Definition
- 1simple past and past participle of possess
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- opssessed
- posessed
- posesssed
- possesed
- possesesd
- possessde
- possessedd
- posssesed
- ppossessed
- psosessed
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of possessed - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "possessed"?
What does "possessed" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "possessed"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "possessed", 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 (10 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "possessed". Here's where to go from here.
- "possessed" maps to 3 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "possesses". View pair
- 10 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #8,972 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.