goofball
/ˈɡufˌbɔl/
"goofball" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goofball” is uncommon English (frequency #52,967 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,967
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A foolish or silly person or animal.
Corpus desk
Index EN-goofball · goofball · English
goofball · rank #52,967 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,967
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH Gomorrah
Nearest frequency peer: Gomorrah (-1 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 “goofball”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- glaciation
glaciation
47,037 corpus weight
- glutamine
glutamine
47,036 corpus weight
- Gomorrah
Gomorrah
47,035 corpus weight
- goofball
goofball
47,034 corpus weight
- Gorton
Gorton
47,033 corpus weight
- gracing
gracing
47,032 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “goofball” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | goofball |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡufˌbɔl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #52,967 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “goofball” in English
Rare enough to double-check
goofball is uncommon English at frequency #52,967 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡufˌbɔl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for goofball in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From goof + ball. The correct English form is goofball, spelled G-O-O-F-B-A-L-L.
Definition
- 1A foolish or silly person or animal.
- 2A pill or tablet containing a pharmaceutical which has hypnotic or intoxicating effects, especially a barbiturate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how goofball appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If that goofball would put half the effort into her studies as she does into her juggling, she might do very well.
Strong Cobb & Co. of Cleveland announced a new barbiturate which in overlarge doses will turn the stomachs of "goofball" addicts and would-be suicides.
Etymology
From goof + ball.
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 "goofball", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).