coster

noun

"coster" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“coster” is uncommon English (frequency #57,309 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,309
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Clipping of costermonger.

Corpus desk

Index EN-coster · coster · English

coster · rank #57,309 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,309
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH costar

Nearest frequency peer: costar (-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 “coster”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “coster” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for coster
PropertyValue
Headwordcoster
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#57,309
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “coster” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).costerfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “costar” (#57,308), “creosote” (#57,312), “crumbly” (#57,313). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “coster” is #57,309. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

coster is uncommon English at frequency #57,309 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for coster in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is coster, spelled C-O-S-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Clipping of costermonger.
  2. 2
    A costard: a large apple good for cooking; any apple.
  3. 3
    Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Acraea.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how coster appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.

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

How do you spell "coster"?
"coster" is spelled C-O-S-T-E-R.
What does "coster" mean?
As a noun, "coster" means: Clipping of costermonger.
What language does "coster" come from?
"coster" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "coster", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list