confab
/ˈkɒnfæb/
"confab" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“confab” is an uncommon English word, ranked #97,960 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #97,960
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Clipping of confabulation (“a casual chat or talk”).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | confab |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒnfæb/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #97,960 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “confab” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for confab is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɒnfæb/. Corpus data places it at rank #97,960 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Clipping of confabulation (“a casual chat or talk”).".
No generated misspelling entries exist for confab in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of confabulation, from Middle English confabulacion (“conversation”), from Latin confābulātiōnem, from cōnfābulārī + -tiōnem (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results); see further at etymology 2. The correct English form is confab, spelled C-O-N-F-A-B.
Definition
- 1Clipping of confabulation (“a casual chat or talk”).
Etymology
Clipping of confabulation, from Middle English confabulacion (“conversation”), from Latin confābulātiōnem, from cōnfābulārī + -tiōnem (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results); see further at etymology 2.
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 “confab”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-F-A-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɒnfæb/ (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
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.