botulism
/ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/
"botulism" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“botulism” is uncommon English (frequency #55,968 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,968
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.
Corpus desk
Index EN-botulism · botulism · English
botulism · rank #55,968 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,968
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH boxcar
Nearest frequency peer: boxcar (+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 “botulism”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Bolshevism
Bolshevism
44,035 corpus weight
- botulism
botulism
44,033 corpus weight
- boxcar
boxcar
44,032 corpus weight
- boykin
boykin
44,031 corpus weight
- brandis
brandis
44,030 corpus weight
- brandywine
brandywine
44,029 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “botulism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | botulism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #55,968 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “botulism” in English
Rare enough to double-check
botulism is uncommon English at frequency #55,968 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.".
Zero misspellings are on record for botulism in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From German Botulismus, from Latin botulus (“sausage”), the first identified source of the disease, + -ism. The correct English form is botulism, spelled B-O-T-U-L-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.
Etymology
From German Botulismus, from Latin botulus (“sausage”), the first identified source of the disease, + -ism.
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 "botulism", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).