unwise
/ʌnˈwaɪz/
"unwise" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“unwise” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,966 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #25,966
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not wise; lacking wisdom
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 | unwise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ʌnˈwaɪz/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #25,966 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “unwise” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for unwise is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʌnˈwaɪz/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,966 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Not wise; lacking wisdom".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for unwise, with forms such as "nuwise", "uniwse", and "unnwise". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "unite", "Unwin", "unlike", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English unwis, from Old English unwīs (“unwise, foolish, ignorant, uninformed, insane”), equivalent to un- + wise. Cognate with Dutch onwijs (“unwise”), German unweise (“unwise”), Danish uvis (“unwise”), Swedish ovis (“unwise”), Icelandic óvís (… The correct English form is unwise, spelled U-N-W-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Not wise; lacking wisdom
Etymology
From Middle English unwis, from Old English unwīs (“unwise, foolish, ignorant, uninformed, insane”), equivalent to un- + wise. Cognate with Dutch onwijs (“unwise”), German unweise (“unwise”), Danish uvis (“unwise”), Swedish ovis (“unwise”), Icelandic óvís (“unwise”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: nuwise,uniwse,unnwise,unwies,unwisse,unwsie,unwwise,uwnise
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of unwise - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “unwise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is U-N-W-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʌnˈwaɪz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “unite” - see the side-by-side comparison. unwise vs unite
- 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.