promiscuous
/pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/
"promiscuous" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“promiscuous” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,716 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #31,716
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | promiscuous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #31,716 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “promiscuous” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for promiscuous is 11 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,716 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for promiscuous, with forms such as "pormiscuous", "ppromiscuous", and "prmoiscuous". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin prōmiscuus (“mixed, not separated”), from prō (“forth”) + misceō (“mix”). The correct English form is promiscuous, spelled P-R-O-M-I-S-C-U-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.
- 2Made without careful choice; indiscriminate.
- 3Having many sexual partners, especially if indiscriminate in choice of sexual partners.
- 4The mode in which an NIC gathers all network traffic instead of getting only the traffic intended for it.
Etymology
From Latin prōmiscuus (“mixed, not separated”), from prō (“forth”) + misceō (“mix”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pormiscuous,ppromiscuous,prmoiscuous,proimscuous,promicsuous,promisccuous,promiscouus,promiscuosu,promiscuouss,promiscuuos,promisscuous,promisucous,prommiscuous,promsicuous,prromiscuous,rpomiscuous
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of promiscuous - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "promiscuous"?
What does "promiscuous" mean?
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Using “promiscuous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-O-M-I-S-C-U-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.