amylase
/ˈæmɪleɪs/
"amylase" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amylase” is uncommon English (frequency #65,686 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,686
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of a class of digestive enzymes, present in saliva and also contributed to the gut by the exocrine pancreas, that break down complex carbohydrates such as starch into simpler sugars such as glu...
Corpus desk
Index EN-amylase · amylase · English
amylase · rank #65,686 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #65,686
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH anionic
Nearest frequency peer: anionic (+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 “amylase”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- aldehydes
aldehydes
34,319 corpus weight
- Alsatian
Alsatian
34,318 corpus weight
- Amistad
Amistad
34,317 corpus weight
- amylase
amylase
34,315 corpus weight
- anionic
anionic
34,314 corpus weight
- AoE
AoE
34,311 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “amylase” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | amylase |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæmɪleɪs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #65,686 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “amylase” in English
Rare enough to double-check
amylase is uncommon English at frequency #65,686 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæmɪleɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of a class of digestive enzymes, present in saliva and also contributed to the gut by the exocrine pancreas, that break down complex carbohydrates such as starch into simpler sugars such as glu...".
No misspelling variants are generated for amylase in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From amyl- + -ase. The correct English form is amylase, spelled A-M-Y-L-A-S-E.
Definition
- 1Any of a class of digestive enzymes, present in saliva and also contributed to the gut by the exocrine pancreas, that break down complex carbohydrates such as starch into simpler sugars such as glucose.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how amylase appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
egg yolk amylase
Egg yolks contain a starch-digesting enzyme, amylase, that is remarkably resistant to heat. Unless a starch-egg mix is brought to a full boil, the yolk amylase will survive, digest the starch, and turn the stiff cream into a pourable one.
Etymology
From amyl- + -ase.
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 "amylase", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).