temporary
/ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/
"temporary" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“temporary” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,143. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,143
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time.
Corpus desk
Index EN-temporary · temporary · English
temporary · rank #3,143 · 14 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,143
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 14 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH symptoms
Nearest frequency peer: symptoms (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “temporary”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- supplies
supplies
96,860 corpus weight
- symptoms
symptoms
96,859 corpus weight
- temporary
temporary
96,858 corpus weight
- tested
tested
96,857 corpus weight
- trick
trick
96,856 corpus weight
- attended
attended
96,855 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “temporary” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | temporary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #3,143 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “temporary” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 14 spelling variants around temporary (IPA /ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,143 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for temporary, with forms such as "etmporary", "temmporary", and "temoprary". 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, "temporal", "temporarily", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin temporarius, from tempus (“time”). The correct English form is temporary, spelled T-E-M-P-O-R-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time.
- 2Existing only for a short time or short times.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how temporary appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Sally was put in temporary charge of the department while they searched for a full-time replacement.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin temporarius, from tempus (“time”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- etmporary
- temmporary
- temoprary
- tempoarry
- temporarry
- temporaryy
- temporayr
- temporrary
- temporray
- tempporary
- temproary
- tepmorary
- tmeporary
- ttemporary
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of temporary - 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 "temporary"?
What does "temporary" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "temporary"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "temporary", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "temporary". Here's where to go from here.
- "temporary" maps to 2 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "temporal". View pair
- 14 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #3,143 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "T" letter cohort. T–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.