front matter
"front-matter" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“front matter” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Within a book, all preliminary content preceding the main text.
Corpus desk
Index EN-front-matter · front matter · English
front matter · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | front matter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “front matter” in English
Rare enough to double-check
front matter is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Within a book, all preliminary content preceding the main text.".
front matter doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is front matter, spelled F-R-O-N-T- -M-A-T-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1Within a book, all preliminary content preceding the main text.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how front matter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Meronyms: acknowledgements, copyright page, dedication, edition notice, foreword, frontispiece, half title, introduction, preface, prologue, table of contents, title page
Synonyms
Antonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.