wildcat
/ˈwaɪldˌkæt/
"wildcat" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wildcat” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,030 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,030
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
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 | wildcat |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwaɪldˌkæt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #27,030 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wildcat” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wildcat is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwaɪldˌkæt/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,030 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for wildcat, with forms such as "iwldcat", "widlcat", and "wilcdat". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "wildest", "wildcard", 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 wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat. Cognate with Middle Low German wiltkatte, German Wildkatze, Swedish vildkatt. Its adjectival senses were originally American and deri… The correct English form is wildcat, spelled W-I-L-D-C-A-T.
Definition
- 1A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
- 2A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
- 3A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
- 4A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
- 5A person who acts like a wildcat, (usually) a violent and easily-angered person or a sexually vigorous one.
- 6An offensive formation with an unbalanced line and a snap directly to the running back rather than the quarterback.
- 7A wheel that can be adjusted so as to revolve either with or on the shaft of a capstan.
- 8Clipping of wildcat cartridge.
- 9Clipping of wildcat strike (“a strike undertaken without authorization from the relevant trade union”).
- 10Clipping of wildcat money (“notes issued by a wildcat bank”).
Etymology
From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat. Cognate with Middle Low German wiltkatte, German Wildkatze, Swedish vildkatt. Its adjectival senses were originally American and derived from the "wildcat banks" of Michigan, following its elevation to statehood in 1837. Two laws—one easing the requirements for establishing a new bank and another occasioned by the Panic of 1837 that removed the need for payment in specie—led to the creation and collapse of around 50 banks within two years. The term is apocryphally derived from a wildcat supposedly featured on the currency printed by one of these banks, but more probably derived from the remote locations "where the wildcats roamed" chosen by these banks to avoid oversight and minimize redemption of notes.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iwldcat,widlcat,wilcdat,wildact,wildcatt,wildccat,wildcta,wilddcat,willdcat,wlidcat,wwildcat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wildcat - 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 “wildcat”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-I-L-D-C-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwaɪldˌkæt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “wildest” - see the side-by-side comparison. wildcat vs wildest
- 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.