guileful

adj

"guileful" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“guileful” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Full of guile; treacherously deceptive.

Key facts for guileful
PropertyValue
Headwordguileful
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “guileful” sits in English frequency

guileful falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

guileful is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Full of guile; treacherously deceptive.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for guileful, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gileful, gilful, equivalent to guile + -ful. The correct English form is guileful, spelled G-U-I-L-E-F-U-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Full of guile; treacherously deceptive.

Etymology

From Middle English gileful, gilful, equivalent to guile + -ful.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "guileful"?
"guileful" is spelled G-U-I-L-E-F-U-L.
What does "guileful" mean?
As an adjective, "guileful" means: Full of guile; treacherously deceptive.
What is the origin of the word "guileful"?
From Middle English gileful, gilful, equivalent to guile + -ful. 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 “guileful”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is G-U-I-L-E-F-U-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

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