flail
/fleɪl/
"flail" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flail” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #49,921. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #49,921
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle (handstock) with a shorter stick (swipple or swingle) attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
Corpus desk
Index EN-flail · flail · English
flail · rank #49,921 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #49,921
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH flaked
Nearest frequency peer: flaked (+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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “flail”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- febrile
febrile
50,083 corpus weight
- Fenn
Fenn
50,082 corpus weight
- flail
flail
50,080 corpus weight
- flaked
flaked
50,079 corpus weight
- foh
foh
50,078 corpus weight
- FOMO
FOMO
50,077 corpus weight
What this shows “flail” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | flail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fleɪl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #49,921 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “flail”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around flail (IPA /fleɪl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #49,921 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for flail, with forms such as "falil", "fflail", and "flaill". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "flat", "flip", "FOIL", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English flayle, from earlier fleil, fleyl, fleȝȝl, from Old English fligel, *flegel (“flail”), from Proto-West Germanic *flagil, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots flail (“a thresher's flail”), West Frisian fleil, flaaiel (“flail”), Dutch v… The correct English form is flail, spelled F-L-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle (handstock) with a shorter stick (swipple or swingle) attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
- 2A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
- 3Part of a rotating device, often used for cutting vegetation.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how flail appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn That ten day-labourers could not end;
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail
Etymology
From Middle English flayle, from earlier fleil, fleyl, fleȝȝl, from Old English fligel, *flegel (“flail”), from Proto-West Germanic *flagil, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots flail (“a thresher's flail”), West Frisian fleil, flaaiel (“flail”), Dutch vlegel (“flail”), German Flegel (“flail”). Possibly a native Germanic word from Proto-Germanic *flagilaz (“whip”), from Proto-Germanic *flag-, *flah- (“to whip, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- (“to beat, hit, strike; weep”); compare Old Norse flaga (“sudden attack, bout”), Lithuanian plàkti (“to whip, lash, flog”), Ancient Greek πληγνύναι (plēgnúnai, “strike, hit, encounter”), Latin plangō (“lament”, i.e. “beat one's breast”) + Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (instrumental suffix). If so, related also to English flag, flack, flacker. Alternatively, Proto-West Germanic *flagil may be an early borrowing of Latin flagellum (“winnowing tool, thresher”), diminutive of flagrum (“scourge, whip”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlag-, *bʰlaǵ- (“to beat”); compare Old Norse blekkja (“to beat, mistreat”). Compare also Old French flael (“flail”), Walloon flayea (“flail”) (locally pronounced "flai"), Italian flagello (“scourge, whip, plague”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- falil
- fflail
- flaill
- flali
- flial
- fllail
- lfail
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of flail - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "flail", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).