addressee

noun

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

The verdict

“addressee” is uncommon English (frequency #63,404 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,404
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The person or organization to which something, such as a letter or message, is addressed or sent, for whom the item is intended.

Corpus desk

Index EN-addressee · addressee · English

addressee · rank #63,404 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,404
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH acrimony

Nearest frequency peer: acrimony (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “addressee”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “addressee” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for addressee
PropertyValue
Headwordaddressee
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#63,404
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “addressee” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).addresseefalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “acrimony” (#63,403), “adenine” (#63,405), “ADU” (#63,406). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “addressee” is #63,404. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

addressee is uncommon English at frequency #63,404 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for addressee in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From address + -ee. The correct English form is addressee, spelled A-D-D-R-E-S-S-E-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The person or organization to which something, such as a letter or message, is addressed or sent, for whom the item is intended.
  2. 2
    A person or entity to whom discourse is directed, or the words referring to such an entity.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Person is a grammatical property which is overtly manifested in so-called Personal Pronouns: forms which include the speaker (I/we) are said to be ‘first personʼ Pronouns; forms which include the addressee (you) and not the speaker are said to be ‘second personʼ Pronouns; while forms which exclude both speaker and addressee (he/she/it/they) are ‘third per…

Etymology

From address + -ee.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "addressee"?
"addressee" is spelled A-D-D-R-E-S-S-E-E.
What does "addressee" mean?
As a noun, "addressee" means: The person or organization to which something, such as a letter or message, is addressed or sent, for whom the item is intended.
What is the origin of the word "addressee"?
From address + -ee. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list