wildcat
/ˈwaɪldˌkæt/
"wildcat" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wildcat” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #27,030. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #27,030
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
Corpus desk
Index EN-wildcat · wildcat · English
wildcat · rank #27,030 · 11 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-MID #27,030
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH whos
Nearest frequency peer: whos (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “wildcat”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- where'd
where'd
72,974 corpus weight
- whiplash
whiplash
72,973 corpus weight
- whos
whos
72,972 corpus weight
- wildcat
wildcat
72,971 corpus weight
- woodworking
woodworking
72,970 corpus weight
- worsen
worsen
72,969 corpus weight
What this shows “wildcat” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “wildcat”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around wildcat (IPA /ˈwaɪldˌkæt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #27,030 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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”).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how wildcat appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
2003 April 24, CNN Upon checking it out, we found a total of 13 newborn wildcats: nine newborn tigers and two newborn leopards.
2002 September 26, The Young and the Restless Anyone who's man enough to have landed a wildcat like you had to be quite a guy.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "wildcat", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).