undermanned

adj

"undermanned" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“undermanned” is uncommon English (frequency #84,864 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,864
frequency rank, English
1,433
“U” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Insufficiently manned; understaffed.

Corpus desk

Index EN-undermanned · undermanned · English

undermanned · rank #84,864 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,864
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,433
  • PHOTO-FINISH uncorrelated

Nearest frequency peer: uncorrelated (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “undermanned”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “undermanned” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for undermanned
PropertyValue
Headwordundermanned
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters11
Frequency rank#84,864
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “undermanned” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).undermannedfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “uncorrelated” (#84,863), “uncontaminated” (#84,862), “unconsolidated” (#84,861). Among 1,433 “U” headwords, “undermanned” is #84,864. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

undermanned is uncommon English at frequency #84,864 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Insufficiently manned; understaffed.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for undermanned, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is undermanned, spelled U-N-D-E-R-M-A-N-N-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Insufficiently manned; understaffed.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Two months afterwards he was reported fit for duty, but, in spite of the fact that he was urgently needed to help an undermanned Commission stagger through a deficit, he preferred to die; vowing at the last that he was hag-ridden.

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 "undermanned"?
"undermanned" is spelled U-N-D-E-R-M-A-N-N-E-D.
What does "undermanned" mean?
As an adjective, "undermanned" means: Insufficiently manned; understaffed.
What language does "undermanned" come from?
"undermanned" 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 "undermanned", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list