tenacity
/təˈnæs.ɪ.ti/
"tenacity" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tenacity” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,232 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #25,232
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The quality or state of being tenacious, or persistence of purpose; tenaciousness.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tenacity |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /təˈnæs.ɪ.ti/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #25,232 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tenacity” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tenacity is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /təˈnæs.ɪ.ti/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,232 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 tenacity, with forms such as "etnacity", "teancity", and "tenaccity". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From tenac(ious) + -ity, from Middle French ténacité, from Latin tenācitās. The correct English form is tenacity, spelled T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y.
Definition
- 1The quality or state of being tenacious, or persistence of purpose; tenaciousness.
- 2The quality of bodies which keeps them from parting without considerable force, as distinguished from brittleness, fragility, mobility, etc.
- 3The effect of this attraction, cohesiveness.
- 4The quality of bodies which makes them adhere to other bodies; adhesiveness, viscosity.
- 5The greatest longitudinal stress a substance can bear without tearing asunder, usually expressed with reference to a unit area of the cross section of the substance, as the number of pounds per square inch, or kilograms per square centimeter, necessary to produce rupture.
Etymology
From tenac(ious) + -ity, from Middle French ténacité, from Latin tenācitās.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: etnacity,teancity,tenaccity,tenacitty,tenacityy,tenaciyt,tenactiy,tenaicty,tencaity,tennacity,tneacity,ttenacity
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tenacity - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “tenacity”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /təˈnæs.ɪ.ti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.