folktale
/ˈfoʊkteɪl/
"folktale" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“folktale” is uncommon English (frequency #78,605 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,605
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A tale or story that is part of the oral tradition of a people or a place.
Corpus desk
Index EN-folktale · folktale · English
folktale · rank #78,605 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,605
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH fod
Nearest frequency peer: fod (-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 “folktale”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- fod
fod
21,397 corpus weight
- folktale
folktale
21,396 corpus weight
- fone
fone
21,393 corpus weight
- Fordyce
Fordyce
21,392 corpus weight
- foreseeing
foreseeing
21,391 corpus weight
- formalizati…
formalization
21,390 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “folktale” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | folktale |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfoʊkteɪl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #78,605 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “folktale” in English
Rare enough to double-check
folktale is uncommon English at frequency #78,605 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfoʊkteɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A tale or story that is part of the oral tradition of a people or a place.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for folktale, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From folk + tale. The correct English form is folktale, spelled F-O-L-K-T-A-L-E.
Definition
- 1A tale or story that is part of the oral tradition of a people or a place.
Etymology
From folk + tale.
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); 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 "folktale", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).