bellwether
/ˈbɛlwɛðə/
"bellwether" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bellwether” is uncommon English (frequency #64,919 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,919
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bellwether · bellwether · English
bellwether · rank #64,919 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,919
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 31,241
- PHOTO-FINISH Behring
Nearest frequency peer: Behring (-2 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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “bellwether”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Bayreuth
Bayreuth
35,087 corpus weight
- Beane
Beane
35,086 corpus weight
- Beaujolais
Beaujolais
35,085 corpus weight
- Behring
Behring
35,084 corpus weight
- bellwether
bellwether
35,082 corpus weight
- benefice
benefice
35,080 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “bellwether” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bellwether |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɛlwɛðə/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #64,919 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bellwether” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bellwether is uncommon English at frequency #64,919 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɛlwɛðə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for bellwether, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether (“castrated ram”). The correct English form is bellwether, spelled B-E-L-L-W-E-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.
- 2Anything that indicates future trends.
- 3A stock or bond that is widely believed to be an indicator of the overall market's condition.
Etymology
From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether (“castrated ram”).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bellwether", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.