wiretap
"wiretap" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wiretap” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,490. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #42,490
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A connection installed on a telephone line or other communications system in order to allow a third party to conduct covert surveillance of conversations.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wiretap |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #42,490 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wiretap” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around wiretap, anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,490 among 12,113 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A connection installed on a telephone line or other communications system in order to allow a third party to conduct covert surveillance of conversations.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for wiretap, with forms such as "iwretap", "wiertap", and "wireatp". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from wiretapper; or else wire + tap The correct English form is wiretap, spelled W-I-R-E-T-A-P.
Definition
- 1A connection installed on a telephone line or other communications system in order to allow a third party to conduct covert surveillance of conversations.
Etymology
Back-formation from wiretapper; or else wire + tap
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- iwretap
- wiertap
- wireatp
- wiretapp
- wiretpa
- wirettap
- wirretap
- wirteap
- wrietap
- wwiretap
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wiretap - 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 “wiretap”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-I-R-E-T-A-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.