swaddling
"swaddling" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“swaddling” is uncommon English (frequency #72,805 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,805
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of swaddle
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | swaddling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #72,805 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “swaddling” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
swaddling is uncommon English at frequency #72,805 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "present participle and gerund of swaddle".
swaddling has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swaþelynge; equivalent to swaddle + -ing. The correct English form is swaddling, spelled S-W-A-D-D-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of swaddle
Etymology
From Middle English swaþelynge; equivalent to swaddle + -ing.
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 "swaddling"?
What does "swaddling" mean?
What is the origin of the word "swaddling"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “swaddling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-W-A-D-D-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.