craniotomy

noun

"craniotomy" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“craniotomy” is uncommon English (frequency #97,978 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#97,978
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The surgical procedure for removing a part of the skull, called a bone flap, prior to a treatment. The bone flap is replaced at the end of the operation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-craniotomy · craniotomy · English

craniotomy · rank #97,978 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #97,978
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH Creagh

Nearest frequency peer: Creagh (+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 “craniotomy”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for craniotomy
PropertyValue
Headwordcraniotomy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#97,978
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “craniotomy” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).craniotomyfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Creagh” (#97,979), “CPEC” (#97,976), “courseware” (#97,975). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “craniotomy” is #97,978. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

craniotomy is uncommon English at frequency #97,978 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The surgical procedure for removing a part of the skull, called a bone flap, prior to a treatment. The bone flap is replaced at the end of the operation.".

craniotomy doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cranio- + -tomy. The correct English form is craniotomy, spelled C-R-A-N-I-O-T-O-M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The surgical procedure for removing a part of the skull, called a bone flap, prior to a treatment. The bone flap is replaced at the end of the operation.

Etymology

From cranio- + -tomy.

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

How do you spell "craniotomy"?
"craniotomy" is spelled C-R-A-N-I-O-T-O-M-Y.
What does "craniotomy" mean?
As a noun, "craniotomy" means: The surgical procedure for removing a part of the skull, called a bone flap, prior to a treatment. The bone flap is replaced at the end of the operation.
What is the origin of the word "craniotomy"?
From cranio- + -tomy. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "craniotomy", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list