pseudoephedrine

/sjuː.dəʊˈɛf.ə.dɹiːn/

//sjuː.dəʊˈɛf.ə.dɹiːn// noun

"pseudoephedrine" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pseudoephedrine” is uncommon English (frequency #76,241 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,241
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A sympathomimetic alkaloid commonly used as a decongestant; a chemical compound, an isomer of ephedrine, with the formula C₁₀H₁₅NO.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pseudoephedrine · pseudoephedrine · English

pseudoephedrine · rank #76,241 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,241
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH proscenium

Nearest frequency peer: proscenium (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “pseudoephedrine”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “pseudoephedrine” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pseudoephedrine
PropertyValue
Headwordpseudoephedrine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sjuː.dəʊˈɛf.ə.dɹiːn/
Letters15
Frequency rank#76,241
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pseudoephedrine” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).pseudoephedrinefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “proscenium” (#76,240), “projet” (#76,239), “pulver” (#76,243). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pseudoephedrine” is #76,241. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pseudoephedrine is uncommon English at frequency #76,241 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /sjuː.dəʊˈɛf.ə.dɹiːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A sympathomimetic alkaloid commonly used as a decongestant; a chemical compound, an isomer of ephedrine, with the formula C₁₀H₁₅NO.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pseudoephedrine, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From pseudo- + ephedrine. The correct English form is pseudoephedrine, spelled P-S-E-U-D-O-E-P-H-E-D-R-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A sympathomimetic alkaloid commonly used as a decongestant; a chemical compound, an isomer of ephedrine, with the formula C₁₀H₁₅NO.

Etymology

From pseudo- + ephedrine.

This word in other languages

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 "pseudoephedrine"?
"pseudoephedrine" is spelled P-S-E-U-D-O-E-P-H-E-D-R-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /sjuː.dəʊˈɛf.ə.dɹiːn/.
What does "pseudoephedrine" mean?
As a noun, "pseudoephedrine" means: A sympathomimetic alkaloid commonly used as a decongestant; a chemical compound, an isomer of ephedrine, with the formula C₁₀H₁₅NO.
How do you pronounce "pseudoephedrine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pseudoephedrine" is /sjuː.dəʊˈɛf.ə.dɹiːn/. 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 "pseudoephedrine"?
From pseudo- + ephedrine. 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 "pseudoephedrine", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 15 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list