residue

/ˈɹɛzɪduː/

//ˈɹɛzɪduː// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"residue" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“residue” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #14,401. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#14,401
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That which persists or remains following the removal or elimination of other elements.

Corpus desk

Index EN-residue · residue · English

residue · rank #14,401 · 9 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,401
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH robotics

Nearest frequency peer: robotics (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “residue”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “residue” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

residue vs retinue
71% similar
residue vs rescue
71% similar
residue vs reside
86% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for residue
PropertyValue
Headwordresidue
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɹɛzɪduː/
Letters7
Frequency rank#14,401
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “residue”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).residuelands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “robotics” (#14,402), “reformation” (#14,398), “runoff” (#14,404). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “residue” is #14,401. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around residue (IPA /ˈɹɛzɪduː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #14,401 among 3,094 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for residue, with forms such as "ersidue", "reisdue", and "resdiue". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "retinue", "rescue", "reside", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English residue, from Old French residu, from Latin residuum, neuter of residuus (“remaining”), from resideō (“I remain behind”). Doublet of residuum. The correct English form is residue, spelled R-E-S-I-D-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    That which persists or remains following the removal or elimination of other elements.
  2. 2
    The substance that remains after evaporation, distillation, filtration or any similar process.
  3. 3
    A molecule that is released from a polymer after bonds between neighbouring monomers are broken, such as an amino acid in a polypeptide chain.
  4. 4
    Whatever property or effects are left in an estate after payment of all debts, other charges and deduction of what is specifically bequeathed by the testator.
  5. 5
    A representative element of an equivalence class modulo some base, conventionally in the half-open interval from zero to the base; the nonnegative remainder after dividing a number by a base.
  6. 6
    A form of complex number, proportional to the contour integral of a meromorphic function along a path enclosing one of its singularities.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how residue appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. By taking residues, we can represent this integral in terms of a Jackson integral.

Etymology

From Middle English residue, from Old French residu, from Latin residuum, neuter of residuus (“remaining”), from resideō (“I remain behind”). Doublet of residuum.

Synonyms

laveremnant

This word in other languages

residuo(Español)résidu(Français)Überrest(Deutsch)resíduo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ersidue
  • reisdue
  • resdiue
  • residdue
  • resideu
  • resiude
  • ressidue
  • rresidue
  • rseidue

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of residue - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ersidue2reisdue2resdiue2residdue1resideu2resiude2ressidue1rresidue1
Edit distance from "residue"

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 "residue"?
"residue" is spelled R-E-S-I-D-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɹɛzɪduː/.
What does "residue" mean?
As a noun, "residue" means: That which persists or remains following the removal or elimination of other elements.
What words are commonly confused with "residue"?
"residue" is commonly confused with "retinue", "rescue", "reside". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "residue"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "residue" is /ˈɹɛzɪduː/. 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 "residue"?
From Middle English residue, from Old French residu, from Latin residuum, neuter of residuus (“remaining”), from resideō (“I remain behind”). Doublet of residuum. 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 "residue", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

rebound#14,395Serbian#14,411severed#14,412playful#14,385

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Rwanda9 variantsquirky9 variantsplanner9 variantsspooky9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list