pretender
/pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/
"pretender" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pretender” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #37,168 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #37,168
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One who intends or purposes.
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 | pretender |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #37,168 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pretender” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pretender is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/. Corpus data places it at rank #37,168 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for pretender, with forms such as "pertender", "ppretender", and "preetnder". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "pretense", "pretenders", "pretend", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pretend + -er. The correct English form is pretender, spelled P-R-E-T-E-N-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1One who intends or purposes.
- 2One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions.
- 3One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions.
- 4One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions.
- 5One who pretends or lays claim to something; one who makes a profession, show, or assertion, especially without adequate grounds, falsely, or with intent to deceive; a dissembler, deceiver, charlatan, hypocrite.
- 6A person who professes beliefs and opinions that they do not hold.
Etymology
From pretend + -er.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pertender,ppretender,preetnder,pretedner,pretendder,pretenderr,pretendre,pretenedr,pretennder,pretneder,prettender,prretender,prteender,rpetender
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pretender - 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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Using “pretender”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-E-T-E-N-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pretense” - see the side-by-side comparison. pretender vs pretense
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.