eave
/iːv/
"eave" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“eave” is uncommon English (frequency #83,209 among 2,246 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,209
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of eaves (“the underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building”)
Corpus desk
Index EN-eave · eave · English
eave · rank #83,209 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #83,209
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH Edberg
Nearest frequency peer: Edberg (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “eave”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- dungy
dungy
16,796 corpus weight
- dyne
dyne
16,794 corpus weight
- eave
eave
16,792 corpus weight
- Edberg
Edberg
16,791 corpus weight
- eider
eider
16,789 corpus weight
- ejecta
ejecta
16,788 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “eave” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | eave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /iːv/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #83,209 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “eave” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
eave is uncommon English at frequency #83,209 among 2,246 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /iːv/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of eaves (“the underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building”)".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for eave, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: A back-formation from eaves, from a misinterpretation of the -s ending as forming a plural. The correct English form is eave, spelled E-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1Alternative form of eaves (“the underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building”)
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how eave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Features such as shutters, eave brackets, transoms, a wraparound porch, and a pergola all help establish the style of this home.
Etymology
A back-formation from eaves, from a misinterpretation of the -s ending as forming a plural.
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 "eave", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "eave". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #83,209 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "E" letter cohort. E–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.