cattle
/ˈkætəl/
"cattle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cattle” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,582 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,582
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Domesticated animal of the species Bos taurus (cows, bulls, steers, oxen etc), and other hoofed mammals of the genus Bos.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cattle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkætəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,582 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cattle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cattle is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkætəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,582 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cattle, with forms such as "acttle", "catle", and "catlte". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "catty", "cate", "cable", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English catel, from Anglo-Norman catel (“personal property”), from Old Northern French (compare French cheptel, Old French chetel, chatel, also English chattel) from Medieval Latin capitāle, from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (whence also capi… The correct English form is cattle, spelled C-A-T-T-L-E.
Definition
- 1Domesticated animal of the species Bos taurus (cows, bulls, steers, oxen etc), and other hoofed mammals of the genus Bos.
- 2Certain other livestock, such as sheep, pigs or goats. Also rarely applied to horses.
- 3People who resemble domesticated bovine animals in behavior or destiny.
- 4chattel
- 5Used in restricted contexts to refer to the meat derived from cattle.
Etymology
From Middle English catel, from Anglo-Norman catel (“personal property”), from Old Northern French (compare French cheptel, Old French chetel, chatel, also English chattel) from Medieval Latin capitāle, from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (whence also capital, from caput (“head”) + -alis (“-al”)). For the sense evolution, compare pecuniary and fee. Also compare Russian поголо́вье (pogolóvʹje, “total number of livestock”) from Russian голова́ (golová, “head”). Doublet of capital and chattel.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acttle,catle,catlte,cattel,cattlle,ccattle,ctatle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cattle - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "cattle"?
What does "cattle" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "cattle"?
How do you pronounce "cattle"?
What is the origin of the word "cattle"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “cattle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-T-T-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkætəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “catty” - see the side-by-side comparison. cattle vs catty
- 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.