ballpoint pen
"ballpoint-pen" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ballpoint pen” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A pen, similar in size and shape to a pencil, having an internal chamber filled with a viscous, quick-drying ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a metal sphere (aro...
Corpus desk
Index EN-ballpoint-pen · ballpoint pen · English
ballpoint pen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ballpoint pen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ballpoint pen” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ballpoint pen is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A pen, similar in size and shape to a pencil, having an internal chamber filled with a viscous, quick-drying ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a metal sphere (aro...".
No generated misspelling entries exist for ballpoint pen in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From ballpoint + pen. Compare Dutch balpen (“ballpoint pen”). The correct English form is ballpoint pen, spelled B-A-L-L-P-O-I-N-T- -P-E-N.
Definition
- 1A pen, similar in size and shape to a pencil, having an internal chamber filled with a viscous, quick-drying ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a metal sphere (around 0.7 mm to 1 mm in diameter).
Etymology
From ballpoint + pen. Compare Dutch balpen (“ballpoint pen”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.