allusive
/əˈluː.sɪv/
"allusive" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“allusive” is an uncommon English word, ranked #92,328 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #92,328
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | allusive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈluː.sɪv/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #92,328 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “allusive” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for allusive is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈluː.sɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #92,328 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)".
allusive doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin allūs-, past participle stem of allūdere (“to joke, jest”; see allude) + -ive. The correct English form is allusive, spelled A-L-L-U-S-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)
Etymology
From Latin allūs-, past participle stem of allūdere (“to joke, jest”; see allude) + -ive.
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
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Using “allusive”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-L-U-S-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈluː.sɪv/ (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.