world-wide

adj

"world-wide" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“world-wide” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of worldwide.

Corpus desk

Index EN-world-wide · world-wide · English

world-wide · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "W" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for world-wide
PropertyValue
Headwordworld-wide
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “world-wide” in English

world-wideranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

world-wide is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of worldwide.".

world-wide has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is world-wide, spelled W-O-R-L-D---W-I-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative form of worldwide.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how world-wide appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Some eight years have elapsed since this book was written. During that time, the Chinese Communist Party has firmly established its power on the mainland of China, and world-wide interest in all aspects of Chinese Communism has grown immensely.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "world-wide"?
"world-wide" is spelled W-O-R-L-D---W-I-D-E.
What does "world-wide" mean?
As an adjective, "world-wide" means: Alternative form of worldwide.
What language does "world-wide" come from?
"world-wide" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list