aplomb
/əˈplʌm/
"aplomb" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“aplomb” is uncommon English (frequency #61,959 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,959
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Self-confidence; poise; composure.
Corpus desk
Index EN-aplomb · aplomb · English
aplomb · rank #61,959 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #61,959
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH antihistamine
Nearest frequency peer: antihistamine (-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 “aplomb”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Anderton
Anderton
38,046 corpus weight
- andor
andor
38,045 corpus weight
- animes
animes
38,044 corpus weight
- antihistami…
antihistamine
38,043 corpus weight
- aplomb
aplomb
38,042 corpus weight
- apologia
apologia
38,041 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “aplomb” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | aplomb |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈplʌm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #61,959 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “aplomb” in English
Rare enough to double-check
aplomb is uncommon English at frequency #61,959 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˈplʌm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
aplomb has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb. The correct English form is aplomb, spelled A-P-L-O-M-B.
Definition
- 1Self-confidence; poise; composure.
- 2The apparent elegance and precision exhibited by a confident, accomplished dancer.
- 3The perpendicular; perpendicularity.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how aplomb appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His nonchalance and aplomb during hard times have always been his best character trait.
“Oh, Wooster,” he said, “I was talking to my mother a night or two ago.” “Oh, yes?” I said, with a slight wave of the hand intended to indicate that if he liked to talk to his mother anywhere, all over the house, he had my approval. “She tells me you are interested in mice.” I didn't like the trend the conversation was taking, but I preserved my aplomb. “…
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb.
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 "aplomb", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).