cable car

/ˈkeɪ.bəl ˌkɑːɹ/

//ˈkeɪ.bəl ˌkɑːɹ// noun

"cable-car" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cable car” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A streetcar moved by gripping to rotating loop of cable running along the track.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cable-car · cable car · English

cable car · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" 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.

Key facts for cable car
PropertyValue
Headwordcable car
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkeɪ.bəl ˌkɑːɹ/
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “cable car” in English

cable carsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cable car is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkeɪ.bəl ˌkɑːɹ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cable car, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is cable car, spelled C-A-B-L-E- -C-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A streetcar moved by gripping to rotating loop of cable running along the track.
  2. 2
    Any passenger vehicle attached to a moving cable for propulsion, and guided by some form of rails, on a specially-built track not in a street.
  3. 3
    A hanging carriage or car for transporting people or cargo.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how cable car appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit (DART) opened to passengers on March 10. The 1.3-mile cable car system is initially available for public use between 1400-1900 before opening in full at the end of the month.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cable car"?
"cable car" is spelled C-A-B-L-E- -C-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkeɪ.bəl ˌkɑːɹ/.
What does "cable car" mean?
As a noun, "cable car" means: A streetcar moved by gripping to rotating loop of cable running along the track.
How do you pronounce "cable car"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cable car" is /ˈkeɪ.bəl ˌkɑːɹ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cable car" come from?
"cable car" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list