witching
"witching" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“witching” is uncommon English (frequency #64,131 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,131
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or pertaining to witchcraft or sorcery, or to witches or sorcerers.
Corpus desk
Index EN-witching · witching · English
witching · rank #64,131 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,131
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH Winterbottom
Nearest frequency peer: Winterbottom (-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 “witching”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- westernmost
westernmost
35,876 corpus weight
- Wikia
Wikia
35,872 corpus weight
- Winterbottom
Winterbottom
35,871 corpus weight
- witching
witching
35,870 corpus weight
- woon
woon
35,869 corpus weight
- Yael
Yael
35,864 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “witching” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | witching |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #64,131 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “witching” in English
Rare enough to double-check
witching is uncommon English at frequency #64,131 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
witching has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wicching, wicchand, equivalent to witch + -ing. The correct English form is witching, spelled W-I-T-C-H-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to witchcraft or sorcery, or to witches or sorcerers.
- 2Of a person: having the power to bewitch someone or something.
- 3Bewitching, enchanting.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how witching appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
'Tis the witching time of night, / Orbed is the moon and bright, / And the Stars they glisten, glisten, / Seeming with bright eyes to listen.
But who is this witching beauty by his side, who would fain impress you with a belief that that mischief which will not remain concealed for the briefest period, is not her entire composition?
Etymology
From Middle English wicching, wicchand, equivalent to witch + -ing.
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 "witching", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).