teetering

noun

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

"teetering" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“teetering” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #49,670. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#49,670
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A precarious motion or situation, risking a fall or collapse.

Corpus desk

Index EN-teetering · teetering · English

teetering · rank #49,670 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #49,670
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH timezone

Nearest frequency peer: timezone (+2 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 “teetering”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “teetering” 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).

teetering vs teething
78% similar
teetering vs tendering
78% similar

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

Key facts for teetering
PropertyValue
Headwordteetering
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#49,670
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “teetering”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).teeteringlands 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 “timezone” (#49,672), “tastefully” (#49,666), “townsfolk” (#49,674). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “teetering” is #49,670. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around teetering, anoun. Corpus frequency is #49,670 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A precarious motion or situation, risking a fall or collapse.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for teetering, with forms such as "etetering", "teeetring", and "teeteirng". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "teething", "tendering", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is teetering, spelled T-E-E-T-E-R-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    A precarious motion or situation, risking a fall or collapse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. the teeterings of the financial market

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etetering
  • teeetring
  • teeteirng
  • teeterign
  • teeteringg
  • teeterinng
  • teeternig
  • teeterring
  • teetreing
  • teettering
  • teteering
  • tetering
  • tteetering

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of teetering - 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.

etetering2teeetring2teeteirng2teeterign2teeteringg1teeterinng1teeternig2teeterring1
Edit distance from "teetering"

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 "teetering"?
"teetering" is spelled T-E-E-T-E-R-I-N-G.
What does "teetering" mean?
As a noun, "teetering" means: A precarious motion or situation, risking a fall or collapse.
What words are commonly confused with "teetering"?
"teetering" is commonly confused with "teething", "tendering". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "teetering" come from?
"teetering" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "teetering", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

townsfolk#49,674sweatshop#49,660underpass#49,691unhappily#49,693

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

sunburst13 variantsundeterred13 variantsupwardly13 variantssleepiness13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list