guppy
/ˈɡʌpi/
"guppy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“guppy” is an uncommon English word, ranked #53,583 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #53,583
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A tiny freshwater fish, Poecilia reticulata, popular in home aquariums, that usually has a plain body and black or dark blue tail for the females and a more colorful tail for the males. The guppies...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | guppy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡʌpi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #53,583 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “guppy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for guppy is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡʌpi/. Corpus data places it at rank #53,583 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for guppy, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a name mistakenly assigned, Girardinus guppii, after biologist Robert J. L. Guppy, to previously assigned Poecilia reticulata. The correct English form is guppy, spelled G-U-P-P-Y.
Definition
- 1A tiny freshwater fish, Poecilia reticulata, popular in home aquariums, that usually has a plain body and black or dark blue tail for the females and a more colorful tail for the males. The guppies can vary in size, but males are 4 cm (1.6”) and females are 7 cm (2.8”).
- 2Any tiny fish.
- 3A tube holding paintballs before they are loaded into the gun.
- 4A hold across the palm of the hand rather than the fingertips.
- 5Acanthocephalus guppii
- 6Acanthocephalus reticulatus
- 7Girardinus guppii
- 8Girardinus petersi
- 9Girardinus poeciloides
- 10Girardinus reticulatus
- 11Haridichthys reticulatus
- 12Heterandria guppyi
- 13Lebistes poecilioides
- 14Lebistes reticulatus
- 15Poecilia poeciloides
- 16Poecilioides reticulatus
Etymology
From a name mistakenly assigned, Girardinus guppii, after biologist Robert J. L. Guppy, to previously assigned Poecilia reticulata.
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 “guppy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-U-P-P-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡʌpi/ (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
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.