tempered
"tempered" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tempered” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,438 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #14,438
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having a specified disposition or temper.
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 | tempered |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #14,438 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tempered” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tempered is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #14,438 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for tempered, with forms such as "etmpered", "temepred", and "temmpered". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "tempted", "tethered", "temper", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tempred, itempered, ytempred, ytemprid, from Old English ġetemprod (“tempered, moderate, goverened, cured”), past participle of Old English ġetemprian (“to temper, moderate, govern, cure”), equivalent to temper + -ed. The correct English form is tempered, spelled T-E-M-P-E-R-E-D.
Definition
- 1Having a specified disposition or temper.
- 2Pertaining to the metallurgical process for finishing metals.
- 3Pertaining to the industrial process for toughening glass, or to such toughened glass.
- 4Moderated or balanced by other considerations.
- 5Pertaining to the well-tempered scale, where the twelve notes per octave of the standard keyboard are tuned in such a way that it is possible to play music in any major or minor key and it will not sound perceptibly out of tune.
Etymology
From Middle English tempred, itempered, ytempred, ytemprid, from Old English ġetemprod (“tempered, moderate, goverened, cured”), past participle of Old English ġetemprian (“to temper, moderate, govern, cure”), equivalent to temper + -ed.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: etmpered,temepred,temmpered,tempeerd,temperde,temperedd,temperred,temppered,tempreed,tepmered,tmepered,ttempered
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tempered - 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.
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 “tempered”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-E-M-P-E-R-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “tempted” - see the side-by-side comparison. tempered vs tempted
- 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.