writhing
"writhing" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“writhing” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,249 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #38,249
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Bended in twisting struggle.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | writhing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #38,249 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “writhing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for writhing is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #38,249 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Bended in twisting struggle.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for writhing, with forms such as "rwithing", "wirthing", and "wrihting". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "writing", "writings", "within", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English writhyng; equivalent to writhe + -ing. The correct English form is writhing, spelled W-R-I-T-H-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Bended in twisting struggle.
Etymology
From Middle English writhyng; equivalent to writhe + -ing.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rwithing,wirthing,wrihting,writhhing,writhign,writhingg,writhinng,writhnig,writihng,writthing,wrrithing,wrtihing,wwrithing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of writhing - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “writhing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-R-I-T-H-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “writing” - see the side-by-side comparison. writhing vs writing
- 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.