widowhood
"widowhood" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“widowhood” is uncommon English (frequency #72,898 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,898
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The state or period of being a widow or widower.
Corpus desk
Index EN-widowhood · widowhood · English
widowhood · rank #72,898 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #72,898
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 12,113
- PHOTO-FINISH Willmott
Nearest frequency peer: Willmott (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “widowhood”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Whitehurst
Whitehurst
27,108 corpus weight
- Whitmer
Whitmer
27,106 corpus weight
- whodunit
whodunit
27,105 corpus weight
- widowhood
widowhood
27,103 corpus weight
- Willmott
Willmott
27,102 corpus weight
- WLAN
WLAN
27,100 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “widowhood” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | widowhood |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #72,898 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “widowhood” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
widowhood is uncommon English at frequency #72,898 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The state or period of being a widow or widower.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for widowhood, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wydowhood, widewehad, equivalent to widow + -hood. Compare widowerhood. The correct English form is widowhood, spelled W-I-D-O-W-H-O-O-D.
Definition
- 1The state or period of being a widow or widower.
Etymology
From Middle English wydowhood, widewehad, equivalent to widow + -hood. Compare widowerhood.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "widowhood", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.