caul
/kɔːl/
Detailed reference entry for the English word "caul", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "caul" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "caul" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“caul” is an uncommon English word, ranked #84,077 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #84,077
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A style of close-fitting circular cap worn by women in the sixteenth century and later, often made of linen.
Compare similar words
See how caul compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | caul |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɔːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #84,077 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “caul” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for caul is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɔːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #84,077 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for caul in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English calle, kelle, kalle, kolle (“caul, net, basket”), from Old English cāwl, cāul, cēawl, cēaul (“basket, container, net, sieve”), of uncertain origin. Reinforced by Old French cale (“close-fitting cap”), possibly a borrowing of the Old Engl… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is caul, spelled C-A-U-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A style of close-fitting circular cap worn by women in the sixteenth century and later, often made of linen.
- 2An entry to a mill lead taken from a burn or stream (a mill lead (or mill waterway) is generally smaller than a canal but moves a large volume of water).
- 3A membrane.
- 4The thin membrane which covers the lower intestines; the omentum.
- 5The amnion which encloses the foetus before birth, especially that part of it which sometimes shrouds a baby’s head at birth (traditionally considered to be good luck).
- 6The surface of a press that makes contact with panel product, especially a removable plate or sheet.
- 7A strip or block of wood used to distribute or direct clamping force.
- 8Caul fat.
Etymology
From Middle English calle, kelle, kalle, kolle (“caul, net, basket”), from Old English cāwl, cāul, cēawl, cēaul (“basket, container, net, sieve”), of uncertain origin. Reinforced by Old French cale (“close-fitting cap”), possibly a borrowing of the Old English term above, or alternatively related to Old French calotte (“headdress”), from Italian callotta, from Latin calautica (“type of female headdress which fell down over the shoulders”), itself of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots kell (“caul”).
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.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “caul, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/caul
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Using “caul”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-U-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɔːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: