Athabasca
"athabasca" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Athabasca” is an uncommon English word, ranked #61,288 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #61,288
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A lake in Alberta, Canada.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Athabasca |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #61,288 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Athabasca” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Athabasca is 9 letters long, classified as a proper noun. Corpus data places it at rank #61,288 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Athabasca has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Woods Cree/Cree Ahđapaskâw. Compare to Plains Cree ᐋᓂᐢᑯᐘᐢᑯᐢᑳᐤ (“there are many reeds”) or Cree ᐋᓂᐢᑯᐘᐢᑳᐤ (aaniskowaskaaw, “it is full of reeds”), from ᐋᓂᐢᑯᐘᐢᑿ (aaniskowaskwa, “reeds, bullrushes”). Doublet of Arthabaska, Quebec, from Abenaki awabaska (“p… The correct English form is Athabasca, spelled A-T-H-A-B-A-S-C-A.
Definition
- 1A lake in Alberta, Canada.
- 2A river in Alberta, Canada, which flows into Lake Athabasca.
- 3A town in Alberta, Canada, on the Athabasca River. Formerly "Athabasca Landing"
Etymology
From Woods Cree/Cree Ahđapaskâw. Compare to Plains Cree ᐋᓂᐢᑯᐘᐢᑯᐢᑳᐤ (“there are many reeds”) or Cree ᐋᓂᐢᑯᐘᐢᑳᐤ (aaniskowaskaaw, “it is full of reeds”), from ᐋᓂᐢᑯᐘᐢᑿ (aaniskowaskwa, “reeds, bullrushes”). Doublet of Arthabaska, Quebec, from Abenaki awabaska (“place of bushes and reeds”). The Cree name originally applied to the lake, and the river delta (the world's largest inland freshwater delta) and was borrowed into French and English by fur traders. The river was named by extension, and the town's name is clipping of "Athabasca Landing". The Cree name for the town is ᑲᐹᐏᓂᕁ (kapaawinihk, “portage, landing, disembarkation”).
Synonyms
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 "Athabasca"?
What does "Athabasca" mean?
What is the origin of the word "Athabasca"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Athabasca”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-T-H-A-B-A-S-C-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.