retiring
/ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/
"retiring" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“retiring” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,660 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #9,660
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - introverted, liking privacy and seclusion.
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 | retiring |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #9,660 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “retiring” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for retiring is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,660 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "introverted, liking privacy and seclusion.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for retiring, with forms such as "ertiring", "reitring", and "retiirng". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "reviving", "returning", "rearing", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is retiring, spelled R-E-T-I-R-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1introverted, liking privacy and seclusion.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ertiring,reitring,retiirng,retirign,retiringg,retirinng,retirnig,retirring,retriing,rettiring,rretiring,rteiring
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retiring - 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.
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 “retiring”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-T-I-R-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “reviving” - see the side-by-side comparison. retiring vs reviving
- 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.