child's play
/ˈt͡ʃaɪldz ˌpleɪ/
"child-s-play" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“child's play” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something particularly easy or simple.
Corpus desk
Index EN-child-s-play · child's play · English
child's play · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | child's play |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃaɪldz ˌpleɪ/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “child's play” in English
Rare enough to double-check
child's play is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈt͡ʃaɪldz ˌpleɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Something particularly easy or simple.".
No misspelling variants are generated for child's play in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our 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 child + -’s + play, originally referring literally to play by a child. The correct English form is child's play, spelled C-H-I-L-D-'-S- -P-L-A-Y.
Definition
- 1Something particularly easy or simple.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how child's play appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Compared to my last job, this is child’s play.
The brawny craftsman finds it no child's play to mould his unpliant rugged masses; neither is guidance of men a dilettantism: what it becomes when treated as a dilettantism, we may see!
Etymology
From child + -’s + play, originally referring literally to play by a child.
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.