contactor
/ˈkɑntæktɚ/
"contactor" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contactor” is uncommon English (frequency #97,967 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #97,967
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A relay used to control an electrical power circuit
Corpus desk
Index EN-contactor · contactor · English
contactor · rank #97,967 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #97,967
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH constitutively
Nearest frequency peer: constitutively (-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 “contactor”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- conjunctive
conjunctive
2,038 corpus weight
- connote
connote
2,037 corpus weight
- constitutiv…
constitutively
2,035 corpus weight
- contactor
contactor
2,034 corpus weight
- Coolangatta
Coolangatta
2,031 corpus weight
- cornflour
cornflour
2,030 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “contactor” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contactor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɑntæktɚ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #97,967 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “contactor” in English
Rare enough to double-check
contactor is uncommon English at frequency #97,967 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkɑntæktɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A relay used to control an electrical power circuit".
No misspelling variants are generated for contactor in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From contact + -or. The correct English form is contactor, spelled C-O-N-T-A-C-T-O-R.
Definition
- 1A relay used to control an electrical power circuit
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how contactor appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Compressed air is used for the operation of certain contactors, the sanders, the horn, and the re-fuelling equipment, but vacuum brakes are fitted to the locomotive.
Etymology
From contact + -or.
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 "contactor", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).