successive
/səkˈsɛsɪv/
"successive" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“successive” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,990 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #8,990
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Coming one after the other in a series.
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 | successive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /səkˈsɛsɪv/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #8,990 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “successive” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for successive is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səkˈsɛsɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,990 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for successive, with forms such as "scucessive", "ssuccessive", and "succesisve". 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, "successively", "succession", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin succedere (“to succeed in”). The correct English form is successive, spelled S-U-C-C-E-S-S-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1Coming one after the other in a series.
- 2Of, or relating to a succession; hereditary.
- 3Of or relating to the grammatical aspect which presupposes the completion of a secondary action as a premise for the primary action of the statement.
Etymology
From Latin succedere (“to succeed in”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: scucessive,ssuccessive,succesisve,succesive,successiev,successivve,successvie,succsesive,sucecssive,sucessive,usccessive
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of successive - 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
How do you spell "successive"?
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Using “successive”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-C-C-E-S-S-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səkˈsɛsɪv/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “successively” - see the side-by-side comparison. successive vs successively
- 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.