featherbed
"featherbed" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“featherbed” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A mattress stuffed with feathers.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | featherbed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “featherbed” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for featherbed is 10 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for featherbed, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From feather + bed. The correct English form is featherbed, spelled F-E-A-T-H-E-R-B-E-D.
Definition
- 1A mattress stuffed with feathers.
- 2An area of bog where a layer of moss covers a pool of water or mud, presenting a hazard to walkers who may fall through it. (Also in UK and Irish placenames.)
- 3A soft, slow pitch of predictable bounce.
Etymology
From feather + bed.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “featherbed”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-E-A-T-H-E-R-B-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.