recklessness
"recklessness" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“recklessness” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,127 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #38,127
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The state or quality of being reckless or heedless, of taking unnecessary risks.
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 | recklessness |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #38,127 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “recklessness” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for recklessness is 12 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #38,127 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The state or quality of being reckless or heedless, of taking unnecessary risks.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for recklessness, with forms such as "ercklessness", "rceklessness", and "reccklessness". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "restlessness", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English reklesnes, reklesnesse, rekelesnesse (also assibilated as rechelesnes, reccheleesnesse), from Old English rēcelēasnes (“recklessness, carelessness, negligence”), equivalent to reckless + -ness. The correct English form is recklessness, spelled R-E-C-K-L-E-S-S-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1The state or quality of being reckless or heedless, of taking unnecessary risks.
Etymology
From Middle English reklesnes, reklesnesse, rekelesnesse (also assibilated as rechelesnes, reccheleesnesse), from Old English rēcelēasnes (“recklessness, carelessness, negligence”), equivalent to reckless + -ness.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ercklessness,rceklessness,reccklessness,reckelssness,reckklessness,recklesness,recklesnsess,recklessenss,recklessnes,recklessnness,recklessnses,reckllessness,recklsesness,reclkessness,rekclessness,rrecklessness
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of recklessness - 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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What does "recklessness" mean?
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Using “recklessness”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-K-L-E-S-S-N-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “restlessness” - see the side-by-side comparison. recklessness vs restlessness
- 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.