ammonite
/ˈæ.məˌnaɪt/
"ammonite" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ammonite” is uncommon English (frequency #69,637 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #69,637
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ammonite · ammonite · English
ammonite · rank #69,637 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #69,637
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH amoxicillin
Nearest frequency peer: amoxicillin (+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 “ammonite”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Alok
Alok
30,367 corpus weight
- ammonite
ammonite
30,364 corpus weight
- amoxicillin
amoxicillin
30,363 corpus weight
- andesite
andesite
30,362 corpus weight
- anhydride
anhydride
30,361 corpus weight
- annulus
annulus
30,360 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ammonite” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ammonite |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæ.məˌnaɪt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #69,637 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ammonite” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ammonite is uncommon English at frequency #69,637 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæ.məˌnaɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for ammonite in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French ammonite, from Latin Ammōnis (cornū) (“horn of Ammon”), as it was called by Pliny the Elder in reference to coiling ram horns used to symbolise the Egyptian god Amun. Equivalent to Ammon + -ite. The correct English form is ammonite, spelled A-M-M-O-N-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ammonite appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Ammonites floated through the world's shallow oceans for more than three hundred million years, and their fossilized shells turn up all around the world.
Visit the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in the UK, and ammonite road signs greet you at every town and city and even the lampposts on the seafront feature a familiar coiled shell.
Etymology
From French ammonite, from Latin Ammōnis (cornū) (“horn of Ammon”), as it was called by Pliny the Elder in reference to coiling ram horns used to symbolise the Egyptian god Amun. Equivalent to Ammon + -ite.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ammonite", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).