contralto
/kɒnˈtɹæltəʊ/
"contralto" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contralto” is uncommon English (frequency #78,489 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,489
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The lowest female voice or voice part, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to the same musical pitch range, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contralto |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɒnˈtɹæltəʊ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #78,489 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contralto” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
contralto is uncommon English at frequency #78,489 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɒnˈtɹæltəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The lowest female voice or voice part, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to the same musical pitch range, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved...".
contralto has no tracked misspelling variants, 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: Contraction of contratenor alto, from Latin contratenor altus. The correct English form is contralto, spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-L-T-O.
Definition
- 1The lowest female voice or voice part, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to the same musical pitch range, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved for female singers; the equivalent male form is counter-tenor. Originally the contratenor altus was a high countermelody sung against the tenor or main melody.
Etymology
Contraction of contratenor alto, from Latin contratenor altus.
Synonyms
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 “contralto”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-T-R-A-L-T-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɒnˈtɹæltəʊ/ (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.