sickness

Name: sickness, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/ˈsɪknɪs/

//ˈsɪknɪs// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“sickness” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,249. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,249
frequency rank, English: 6,566
“S” headwords: 11
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sickness · sickness · English

sickness · rank #9,249 · 11 variants · 0 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #9,249
LEN-LONG 8 letters
VOW-2 2 vowels
CONFUS-0 No pairs
VAR-MID 11 variants
BOOK-DENSE 6,566
PHOTO-FINISH shave

Nearest frequency peer: shave (-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.

reset

90,755
sage

90,754
shave

90,753
sickness

90,752
simpler

90,751
sinking

90,750

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

Key facts for sickness
Property	Value
Headword	sickness
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/ˈsɪknɪs/
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#9,249
Misspellings tracked	11
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “sickness”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).sicknesslands here:

#9,249

#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. Same rarity band neighbours include “shave” (#9,248), “simpler” (#9,250), “sage” (#9,247). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sickness” is #9,249. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around sickness (IPA /ˈsɪknɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,249 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for sickness, with forms such as "isckness", "scikness", and "sicckness". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sikness, from Old English sēocnes. By surface analysis, sick + -ness. The correct English form is sickness, spelled S-I-C-K-N-E-S-S.

Definition

1
The quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness.
2
Nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach.
3
The analogical misuse of a rarer or marked grammatical case in the place of a more common or unmarked case.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

I do lament the sickness of the king.
18th century, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Miss Blount Trust not too much your now resistless charms; Those, age or sickness soon or late disarms.

Etymology

From Middle English sikness, from Old English sēocnes. By surface analysis, sick + -ness.

Synonyms

disease illness infirmity malady

This word in other languages

enfermedad(Español)maladie(Français)Krankheit(Deutsch)doença(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

isckness
scikness
sicckness
sickenss
sickkness
sicknes
sicknness
sicknses
sicnkess
sikcness
ssickness

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sickness - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "sickness"

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 "sickness"?

"sickness" is spelled S-I-C-K-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈsɪknɪs/.

What does "sickness" mean?

As a noun, "sickness" means: The quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness.

What are common misspellings of "sickness"?

Common misspellings include "isckness", "scikness", "sicckness", "sickenss", "sickkness". The correct spelling is "sickness".

How do you pronounce "sickness"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sickness" is /ˈsɪknɪs/. 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 "sickness"?

From Middle English sikness, from Old English sēocnes. By surface analysis, sick + -ness. 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 "sickness", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

remedies#9,245 outright#9,223 addicted#9,279 chickens#9,297

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

simpler11 variants sinking11 variants startup11 variants punched11 variants