clothesline
/ˈkləʊðzlaɪn/
"clothesline" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clothesline” is uncommon English (frequency #56,016 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,016
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A rope or cord tied up outdoors to hang clothes on so they can dry.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clothesline |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkləʊðzlaɪn/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #56,016 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clothesline” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
clothesline is uncommon English at frequency #56,016 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkləʊðzlaɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
clothesline doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From clothes + line. The correct English form is clothesline, spelled C-L-O-T-H-E-S-L-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1A rope or cord tied up outdoors to hang clothes on so they can dry.
- 2A structure with multiple cords for the same purpose, such as a Hills hoist.
- 3The act of knocking a person over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.
Etymology
From clothes + line.
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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Using “clothesline”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-O-T-H-E-S-L-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkləʊðzlaɪn/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.