unwanted
/ʌnˈwɒntɪd/
"unwanted" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“unwanted” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,978 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #9,978
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not wanted; unwelcome.
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 | unwanted |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ʌnˈwɒntɪd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #9,978 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “unwanted” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for unwanted is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʌnˈwɒntɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,978 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Not wanted; unwelcome.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for unwanted, with forms such as "nuwanted", "unawnted", and "unnwanted". 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. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "unwashed", "undated", "unmanned", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + wanted. The correct English form is unwanted, spelled U-N-W-A-N-T-E-D.
Definition
- 1Not wanted; unwelcome.
Etymology
From un- + wanted.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: nuwanted,unawnted,unnwanted,unwanetd,unwannted,unwantde,unwantedd,unwantted,unwatned,unwnated,unwwanted,uwnanted
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of unwanted - 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 “unwanted”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is U-N-W-A-N-T-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʌnˈwɒntɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “unwashed” - see the side-by-side comparison. unwanted vs unwashed
- 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.