demote
/dɪˈməʊt/
"demote" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“demote” is uncommon English (frequency #67,360 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,360
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To lower the rank or status of.
Corpus desk
Index EN-demote · demote · English
demote · rank #67,360 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,360
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH Demerara
Nearest frequency peer: Demerara (-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 “demote”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- dehydrate
dehydrate
32,646 corpus weight
- Delon
Delon
32,644 corpus weight
- Demerara
Demerara
32,642 corpus weight
- demote
demote
32,641 corpus weight
- derisively
derisively
32,638 corpus weight
- designee
designee
32,637 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “demote” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | demote |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪˈməʊt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #67,360 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “demote” in English
Rare enough to double-check
demote is uncommon English at frequency #67,360 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /dɪˈməʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
demote doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From de- (“down”) + promote (“advance in rank/status (ending abstracted)”). The correct English form is demote, spelled D-E-M-O-T-E.
Definition
- 1To lower the rank or status of.
- 2To relegate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how demote appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
James was demoted from branch manager to assistant manager due to his poor discipline.
In 1036, shortly after arriving at Yi-ling, Ou-yang Hsiu sent a lengthy letter to his friend, Yin Shu, who had been demoted at the same time as Ou-yang Hsiu and sent to Ying-chou (modern Chung-hsiang, Hupeh).
Etymology
From de- (“down”) + promote (“advance in rank/status (ending abstracted)”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "demote", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).