crankcase

noun

"crankcase" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“crankcase” is uncommon English (frequency #60,733 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,733
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The part of an engine that contains the crankshaft.

Corpus desk

Index EN-crankcase · crankcase · English

crankcase · rank #60,733 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,733
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH Cranbrook

Nearest frequency peer: Cranbrook (-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 “crankcase”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for crankcase
PropertyValue
Headwordcrankcase
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#60,733
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “crankcase” 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).crankcasefalls 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: “Cranbrook” (#60,732), “craw” (#60,734), “couplets” (#60,731). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “crankcase” is #60,733. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

crankcase is uncommon English at frequency #60,733 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The part of an engine that contains the crankshaft.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for crankcase, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From crank + case. The correct English form is crankcase, spelled C-R-A-N-K-C-A-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The part of an engine that contains the crankshaft.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. The crankcase itself is in one piece, in the form of a tunnel into which the crankshaft is introduced from one end.

Etymology

From crank + case.

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 "crankcase"?
"crankcase" is spelled C-R-A-N-K-C-A-S-E.
What does "crankcase" mean?
As a noun, "crankcase" means: The part of an engine that contains the crankshaft.
What is the origin of the word "crankcase"?
From crank + case. 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 "crankcase", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list