flunk

/flʌŋk/

//flʌŋk// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"flunk" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“flunk” is uncommon English (frequency #77,683 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,683
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of a student, to fail a class; to not pass.

Corpus desk

Index EN-flunk · flunk · English

flunk · rank #77,683 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,683
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH flub

Nearest frequency peer: flub (-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 “flunk”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “flunk” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for flunk
PropertyValue
Headwordflunk
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/flʌŋk/
Letters5
Frequency rank#77,683
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “flunk” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).flunkfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “flub” (#77,682), “forewing” (#77,685), “Foshan” (#77,686). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “flunk” is #77,683. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

flunk is uncommon English at frequency #77,683 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /flʌŋk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for flunk, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Alteration of funk, or perhaps a blend of flinch + funk. The correct English form is flunk, spelled F-L-U-N-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of a student, to fail a class; to not pass.
  2. 2
    Of a teacher, to deny a student a passing grade.
  3. 3
    To fail any challenge
  4. 4
    To shirk (a task or duty).
  5. 5
    To back out through fear. (Commonly in the phrase 'flunk it', the 'it' referring to a specific task avoided; sometimes without specific reference, describing a person's attitude to life in general.)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how flunk appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. He flunked math, again.
  2. Unsatisfied with Fred's progress, the teacher flunked him.

Etymology

Alteration of funk, or perhaps a blend of flinch + funk.

This word in other languages

aplazar(Español)louper(Français)durchfallen(Deutsch)reprovar(Português)

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

How do you spell "flunk"?
"flunk" is spelled F-L-U-N-K. The IPA pronunciation is /flʌŋk/.
What does "flunk" mean?
As a verb, "flunk" means: Of a student, to fail a class; to not pass.
How do you pronounce "flunk"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "flunk" is /flʌŋk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "flunk"?
Alteration of funk, or perhaps a blend of flinch + funk. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "flunk", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Garay#77,699fakir#77,665genny#77,704emerg#77,639

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list