ghostwriter

noun

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

"ghostwriter" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ghostwriter” is uncommon English (frequency #54,201 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,201
frequency rank, English
18,276
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A professional writer who is paid to write material that is officially credited to another person; one who writes on behalf of someone else, often for a celebrity.

Key facts for ghostwriter
PropertyValue
Headwordghostwriter
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#54,201
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ghostwriter” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). ghostwriter lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ghostwriter is uncommon English at frequency #54,201 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A professional writer who is paid to write material that is officially credited to another person; one who writes on behalf of someone else, often for a celebrity.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ghostwriter, 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: From ghost + writer. The correct English form is ghostwriter, spelled G-H-O-S-T-W-R-I-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A professional writer who is paid to write material that is officially credited to another person; one who writes on behalf of someone else, often for a celebrity.

Etymology

From ghost + writer.

This word in other languages

negro(Español)prête-plume(Français)Ghostwriter(Deutsch)

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 "ghostwriter"?
"ghostwriter" is spelled G-H-O-S-T-W-R-I-T-E-R.
What does "ghostwriter" mean?
As a noun, "ghostwriter" means: A professional writer who is paid to write material that is officially credited to another person; one who writes on behalf of someone else, often for a celebrity.
What is the origin of the word "ghostwriter"?
From ghost + writer. 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.

Using “ghostwriter”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is G-H-O-S-T-W-R-I-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list