unwary
"unwary" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“unwary” is uncommon English (frequency #64,806 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,806
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lacking caution as a result of naïveté or inexperience.
Corpus desk
Index EN-unwary · unwary · English
unwary · rank #64,806 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,806
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH untroubled
Nearest frequency peer: untroubled (-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 “unwary”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- unmissable
unmissable
35,198 corpus weight
- unrealistic…
unrealistically
35,197 corpus weight
- untroubled
untroubled
35,196 corpus weight
- unwary
unwary
35,195 corpus weight
- Urie
Urie
35,193 corpus weight
- uselessness
uselessness
35,192 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “unwary” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | unwary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #64,806 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “unwary” in English
Rare enough to double-check
unwary is uncommon English at frequency #64,806 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for unwary, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + wary. Compare Old English unwær (“unaware, unwary”) and unwærlīċ (“unwary, heedless”). The correct English form is unwary, spelled U-N-W-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Lacking caution as a result of naïveté or inexperience.
- 2Unprepared; not watchful.
Etymology
From un- + wary. Compare Old English unwær (“unaware, unwary”) and unwærlīċ (“unwary, heedless”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "unwary", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).