clownish
/ˈklaʊnɪʃ/
"clownish" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clownish” is uncommon English (frequency #95,832 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #95,832
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Resembling or characteristic of a circus clown; comical, ridiculous.
Corpus desk
Index EN-clownish · clownish · English
clownish · rank #95,832 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #95,832
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH clinger
Nearest frequency peer: clinger (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “clownish”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- clenbuterol
clenbuterol
4,171 corpus weight
- clinger
clinger
4,170 corpus weight
- clownish
clownish
4,169 corpus weight
- clozapine
clozapine
4,168 corpus weight
- clunker
clunker
4,167 corpus weight
- coaling
coaling
4,166 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “clownish” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clownish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈklaʊnɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #95,832 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “clownish” in English
Rare enough to double-check
clownish is uncommon English at frequency #95,832 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈklaʊnɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for clownish in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From clown + -ish. The correct English form is clownish, spelled C-L-O-W-N-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1Resembling or characteristic of a circus clown; comical, ridiculous.
- 2Pertaining to peasants; rustic.
- 3Uncultured, boorish; rough, coarse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how clownish appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Even worse, the zombies' clownish makeup, with a stark white base and black shoe polish around the eyes, looks amateurish.
Once again, City's defending was clownish. James McArthur drove into the area on the left and pulled a low cross towards the far post, where the horribly timid Gaël Clichy allowed Perch to bundle the ball past Costel Pantilimon.
Etymology
From clown + -ish.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "clownish", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).