spyware
"spyware" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spyware” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,386 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #41,386
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Programs that surreptitiously monitor and report the actions of a computer user.
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 | spyware |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #41,386 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spyware” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for spyware is 7 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #41,386 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Programs that surreptitiously monitor and report the actions of a computer user.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for spyware, with forms such as "psyware", "sppyware", and "spwyare". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "spare", "skyward", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From spy + -ware. The correct English form is spyware, spelled S-P-Y-W-A-R-E.
Definition
- 1Programs that surreptitiously monitor and report the actions of a computer user.
Etymology
From spy + -ware.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: psyware,sppyware,spwyare,spyawre,spywaer,spywarre,spywrae,spywware,spyyware,sspyware,sypware
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spyware - 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 “spyware”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-Y-W-A-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “spare” - see the side-by-side comparison. spyware vs spare
- 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.