tailings

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"tailings" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tailings” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,443. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#42,443
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; the waste from coal mining.

Corpus desk

Index EN-tailings · tailings · English

tailings · rank #42,443 · 12 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #42,443
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH tailing

Nearest frequency peer: tailing (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “tailings”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

tailings vs tiling
75% similar
tailings vs tidings
75% similar
tailings vs toiling
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for tailings
PropertyValue
Headwordtailings
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#42,443
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “tailings”

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

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “tailing” (#42,442), “Tami” (#42,444), “tacitly” (#42,441). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “tailings” is #42,443. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around tailings, anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,443 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for tailings, with forms such as "atilings", "taiilngs", and "tailigns". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "tiling", "tidings", "toiling", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is tailings, spelled T-A-I-L-I-N-G-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; the waste from coal mining.
  2. 2
    The weak feints, the last fraction of product obtained at the end of distillation, typically impure and containing fusel oils.
  3. 3
    Inferior or damaged grain, as well as seeds of other plants (weeds), removed from grain before milling or sowing.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Meronym: culm
  2. […] and it is made into a mash which is fermented and distilled in the same way that an ordinary grain mash is handled in a whisky distillery. The tailings from the still are first compressed to extract the water, and[…]

This word in other languages

relave(Español)débris(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • atilings
  • taiilngs
  • tailigns
  • tailinggs
  • tailingss
  • tailinngs
  • tailinsg
  • taillings
  • tailnigs
  • taliings
  • tialings
  • ttailings

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tailings - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

atilings2taiilngs2tailigns2tailinggs1tailingss1tailinngs1tailinsg2taillings1
Edit distance from "tailings"

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 "tailings"?
"tailings" is spelled T-A-I-L-I-N-G-S.
What does "tailings" mean?
As a noun, "tailings" means: The waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; the waste from coal mining.
What words are commonly confused with "tailings"?
"tailings" is commonly confused with "tiling", "tidings", "toiling". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "tailings" come from?
"tailings" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "tailings", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

thruster#42,450toasting#42,454straying#42,425trifling#42,461

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Sunnyvale12 variantsSolomons12 variantsUrquhart12 variantsskyward12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list