formless
/ˈfɔːmləs/
"formless" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“formless” is uncommon English (frequency #56,132 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,132
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Without form; shapeless.
Corpus desk
Index EN-formless · formless · English
formless · rank #56,132 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,132
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH Flynt
Nearest frequency peer: Flynt (-4 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 “formless”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- flatbread
flatbread
43,877 corpus weight
- flexes
flexes
43,876 corpus weight
- Flynt
Flynt
43,873 corpus weight
- formless
formless
43,869 corpus weight
- gamepad
gamepad
43,862 corpus weight
- gameplan
gameplan
43,861 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “formless” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | formless |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfɔːmləs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #56,132 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “formless” in English
Rare enough to double-check
formless is uncommon English at frequency #56,132 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈfɔːmləs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for formless, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From form + -less. The correct English form is formless, spelled F-O-R-M-L-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1Without form; shapeless.
- 2Without the use of forms or templates.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how formless appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It spread slowly up from the sea-rim, a welling upwards of pure white light, ghosting the beach with silver and drawing the grey bastions of sandstone out of formless space.
1985: Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. — Genesis 1:2 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Etymology
From form + -less.
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 "formless", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).