freckle
/ˈfɹɛkəl/
"freckle" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“freckle” is an uncommon English word, ranked #62,151 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #62,151
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small brownish or reddish pigmentation spot on the surface of the skin.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | freckle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɹɛkəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #62,151 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “freckle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for freckle is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɹɛkəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #62,151 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for freckle in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English freken, frekel, from Old Norse freknur pl (compare Faroese frøknur, Swedish fräknar, Danish fregner), s-less variant of Old English sprecel from Proto-Germanic *sprekalą (“freckle”) (compare dialectal Norwegian sprekla, Middle High Germa… The correct English form is freckle, spelled F-R-E-C-K-L-E.
Definition
- 1A small brownish or reddish pigmentation spot on the surface of the skin.
- 2Any small spot or discoloration.
- 3A small sweet consisting of a flattish mound of chocolate covered in hundreds and thousands.
- 4The anus.
Etymology
From Middle English freken, frekel, from Old Norse freknur pl (compare Faroese frøknur, Swedish fräknar, Danish fregner), s-less variant of Old English sprecel from Proto-Germanic *sprekalą (“freckle”) (compare dialectal Norwegian sprekla, Middle High German spreckel), from Proto-Indo-European *sp(h)er(e)g- (“to strew, sprinkle”). Cognate with Albanian fruth (“measles”). More at spark. Related to spry, sprack.
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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Using “freckle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-R-E-C-K-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɹɛkəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.