worthwhile
/ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/
"worthwhile" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“worthwhile” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,638 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #10,638
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Good and important enough to spend time, effort, or money on.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | worthwhile |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #10,638 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “worthwhile” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for worthwhile is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,638 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Good and important enough to spend time, effort, or money on.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for worthwhile, with forms such as "owrthwhile", "worhtwhile", and "worrthwhile". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From worth (adjective) + while (noun). The correct English form is worthwhile, spelled W-O-R-T-H-W-H-I-L-E.
Definition
- 1Good and important enough to spend time, effort, or money on.
Etymology
From worth (adjective) + while (noun).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: owrthwhile,worhtwhile,worrthwhile,worthhwhile,worthhwile,worthwhhile,worthwhiel,worthwhille,worthwhlie,worthwihle,worthwwhile,wortthwhile,wortwhhile,wotrhwhile,wrothwhile,wworthwhile
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of worthwhile - 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
How do you spell "worthwhile"?
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Using “worthwhile”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-O-R-T-H-W-H-I-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.