goldfinch
/ˈɡoʊldˌfɪnt͡ʃ/
"goldfinch" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goldfinch” is uncommon English (frequency #57,410 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,410
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several small passerine birds of the finch family
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | goldfinch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡoʊldˌfɪnt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #57,410 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “goldfinch” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
goldfinch is uncommon English at frequency #57,410 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡoʊldˌfɪnt͡ʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for goldfinch, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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 goldfinch, goldfynch, goldefynch, from Old English goldfinċ, equivalent to gold + finch. Compare West Frisian goudfink (“goldfinch”), Dutch goudvink (“bullfinch”), German Goldfink (“goldfinch”), Danish guldfink (“goldfinch”), Icelandic g… The correct English form is goldfinch, spelled G-O-L-D-F-I-N-C-H.
Definition
- 1Any of several small passerine birds of the finch family
- 2Any of several small passerine birds of the finch family
- 3Any of several small passerine birds of the finch family
- 4Any of several small passerine birds of the finch family
- 5A sovereign (the coin).
Etymology
From Middle English goldfinch, goldfynch, goldefynch, from Old English goldfinċ, equivalent to gold + finch. Compare West Frisian goudfink (“goldfinch”), Dutch goudvink (“bullfinch”), German Goldfink (“goldfinch”), Danish guldfink (“goldfinch”), Icelandic gullfinka (“goldfinch”).
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 “goldfinch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-L-D-F-I-N-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡoʊldˌfɪnt͡ʃ/ (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
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.