coal

[…]

/[…]/ noun

The verdict

“coal” is uncommon German (frequency #55,225 among 1,273 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,225
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ein schwarzes oder dunkel-braunes brennbares Sedimentgestein, das durch Carbonisierung von Pflanzenresten (Inkohlung) entstand

Corpus desk

Index DE-coal · coal · German

coal · rank #55,225 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,225
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH Colitis

Nearest frequency peer: Colitis (+1 rank slots)

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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „coal“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „coal“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for coal
PropertyValue
Headwordcoal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[…]
Letters4
Frequency rank#55,225
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „coal“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).coalfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Colitis“ (#55,226), „Cuts“ (#55,227), „chairman“ (#55,221). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „coal“ bei #55,225. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

coal is uncommon German at frequency #55,225 among 1,273 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "ein schwarzes oder dunkel-braunes brennbares Sedimentgestein, das durch Carbonisierung von Pflanzenresten (Inkohlung) entstand".

No generated misspelling entries exist for coal in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is coal, spelled C-O-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    ein schwarzes oder dunkel-braunes brennbares Sedimentgestein, das durch Carbonisierung von Pflanzenresten (Inkohlung) entstand

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. The extensive use of coal as a fuel has negative consequences on our environment.

Synonyms

carboncharcoal

This word in other languages

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "coal"?
"coal" is spelled C-O-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "coal" mean?
As a noun, "coal" means: ein schwarzes oder dunkel-braunes brennbares Sedimentgestein, das durch Carbonisierung von Pflanzenresten (Inkohlung) entstand
How do you pronounce "coal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coal" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "coal" come from?
"coal" is a German 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "coal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list