whitespace

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"whitespace" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“whitespace” is uncommon English (frequency #78,275 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,275
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of white space.

Corpus desk

Index EN-whitespace · whitespace · English

whitespace · rank #78,275 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,275
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH whiner

Nearest frequency peer: whiner (-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 “whitespace”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for whitespace
PropertyValue
Headwordwhitespace
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#78,275
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “whitespace” 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).whitespacefalls 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: “whiner” (#78,274), “watchmaking” (#78,269), “withal” (#78,281). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “whitespace” is #78,275. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

whitespace is uncommon English at frequency #78,275 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of white space.".

Zero misspellings are on record for whitespace in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is whitespace, spelled W-H-I-T-E-S-P-A-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative form of white space.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. An escaped name must be terminated by a whitespace.

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 "whitespace"?
"whitespace" is spelled W-H-I-T-E-S-P-A-C-E.
What does "whitespace" mean?
As a noun, "whitespace" means: Alternative form of white space.
What language does "whitespace" come from?
"whitespace" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "whitespace", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

unheralded#78,244absorbable#78,321tortellini#78,215switchback#78,177

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list