cranny
/ˈkɹæni/
"cranny" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cranny” is an uncommon English word, ranked #56,033 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #56,033
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cranny |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɹæni/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #56,033 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cranny” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cranny is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɹæni/. Corpus data places it at rank #56,033 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cranny, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin crenō (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crinō (“split, bre… The correct English form is cranny, spelled C-R-A-N-N-Y.
Definition
- 1A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
- 2A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.
Etymology
From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin crenō (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crinō (“split, break”, verb), of obscure origin. Despite a spurious use in Pliny, connection to Latin crēna is doubtful. Instead, probably of Germanic or Celtic origin. Compare Old High German chrinna (“notch, groove, crevice”), Alemannic German Krinne (“small crack, channel, groove”), Low German karn (“notch, groove, crevice, cranny”), Old Irish ara-chrinin (“to perish, decay”).
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 “cranny”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-A-N-N-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɹæni/ (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
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.