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withheld

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "withheld", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "withheld" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "withheld" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

withheld is anEnglishadj. It means: That has been kept or held back from the possession or knowledge of another. Pronounced /wɪθˈhɛld/. Often confused with withhold.

Key facts for withheld
PropertyValue
Headwordwithheld
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/wɪθˈhɛld/
Letters8
Frequency rank#18,224
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of withheld in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for withheld is 8 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɪθˈhɛld/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,224 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "That has been kept or held back from the possession or knowledge of another.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for withheld, with forms such as "iwthheld", "wihtheld", and "withehld". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "withhold", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is withheld, spelled W-I-T-H-H-E-L-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    That has been kept or held back from the possession or knowledge of another.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: iwthheld,wihtheld,withehld,witheld,withhedl,withheldd,withhelld,withhled,witthheld,wtihheld,wwithheld

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for withheld

Misspelling Variants of "withheld"

iwthheld8wihtheld8withehld8witheld7withhedl8withheldd9withhelld9withhled8
Misspelling Variants of "withheld"

Frequency rank: #18,224 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "withheld"?
"withheld" is spelled W-I-T-H-H-E-L-D. The IPA pronunciation is /wɪθˈhɛld/.
What does "withheld" mean?
As an adj, "withheld" means: That has been kept or held back from the possession or knowledge of another.
What words are commonly confused with "withheld"?
"withheld" is commonly confused with "withhold". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "withheld"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "withheld" is /wɪθˈhɛld/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "withheld" come from?
"withheld" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index:

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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.