cochlea
/ˈkɒk.li.ə/
"cochlea" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cochlea” is uncommon English (frequency #68,942 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,942
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The complex, spirally coiled, tapered cavity of the inner ear of higher vertebrates, which contains the organ of Corti and in which sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cochlea · cochlea · English
cochlea · rank #68,942 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #68,942
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH coeducational
Nearest frequency peer: coeducational (+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 “cochlea”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Clojure
Clojure
31,063 corpus weight
- Cluny
Cluny
31,061 corpus weight
- cochlea
cochlea
31,059 corpus weight
- coeducation…
coeducational
31,058 corpus weight
- colonise
colonise
31,056 corpus weight
- Colquhoun
Colquhoun
31,055 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “cochlea” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cochlea |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒk.li.ə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #68,942 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cochlea” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cochlea is uncommon English at frequency #68,942 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkɒk.li.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for cochlea, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin cochlea (“a snail”), from Ancient Greek κόχλιας (kókhlias, “a snail with a spiral shell”). The correct English form is cochlea, spelled C-O-C-H-L-E-A.
Definition
- 1The complex, spirally coiled, tapered cavity of the inner ear of higher vertebrates, which contains the organ of Corti and in which sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses.
- 2A spiral-shaped shell, especially that of a snail.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cochlea (“a snail”), from Ancient Greek κόχλιας (kókhlias, “a snail with a spiral shell”).
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 "cochlea", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).