cutlery
/ˈkʌt.lə.ɹi/
"cutlery" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cutlery” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,505 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,505
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sharp cutting utensils.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cutlery |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkʌt.lə.ɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #28,505 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cutlery” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cutlery is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkʌt.lə.ɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,505 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for cutlery, with forms such as "ccutlery", "ctulery", and "cultery". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "cutter", "cutler", "celery", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cotellerie, cutleri (“the cutler’s art or craft”), from Old French coutelerie (modern French coutellerie). The correct English form is cutlery, spelled C-U-T-L-E-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Sharp cutting utensils.
- 2Eating or serving utensils such as knives, forks, and spoons.
- 3The business of a cutler.
Etymology
From Middle English cotellerie, cutleri (“the cutler’s art or craft”), from Old French coutelerie (modern French coutellerie).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccutlery,ctulery,cultery,cutelry,cutlerry,cutleryy,cutleyr,cutllery,cutlrey,cuttlery,uctlery
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cutlery - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "cutlery"?
What does "cutlery" mean?
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Using “cutlery”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-T-L-E-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkʌt.lə.ɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cutter” - see the side-by-side comparison. cutlery vs cutter
- 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.