expository
/ɛkˈspɑzəˌtɔɹi/
"expository" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“expository” is uncommon English (frequency #52,938 among 2,246 “E” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,938
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Serving to explain, explicate, or elucidate; expositive; of or relating to exposition.
Corpus desk
Index EN-expository · expository · English
expository · rank #52,938 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,938
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH ewes
Nearest frequency peer: ewes (-2 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 “expository”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- errata
errata
47,069 corpus weight
- Estrella
Estrella
47,067 corpus weight
- Evander
Evander
47,066 corpus weight
- ewes
ewes
47,065 corpus weight
- expository
expository
47,063 corpus weight
- fatten
fatten
47,060 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “expository” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | expository |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɛkˈspɑzəˌtɔɹi/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #52,938 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “expository” in English
Rare enough to double-check
expository is uncommon English at frequency #52,938 among 2,246 “E” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ɛkˈspɑzəˌtɔɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Serving to explain, explicate, or elucidate; expositive; of or relating to exposition.".
No misspelling variants are generated for expository in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From exposit(ion) + -ory. The correct English form is expository, spelled E-X-P-O-S-I-T-O-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Serving to explain, explicate, or elucidate; expositive; of or relating to exposition.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how expository appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Practicing expository writing will teach you to explain complex concepts clearly.
The zombie scenes are reminiscent of what you might see on a show like The Walking Dead, short bursts of extreme violence and gore punctuating expository dialogue scenes where the survivors try to figure out how they’re going to get from point A to point B.
Etymology
From exposit(ion) + -ory.
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 "expository", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).