headhunter
/ˈhɛdˌhʌntɚ/
"headhunter" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“headhunter” is uncommon English (frequency #54,226 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,226
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who practises headhunting, the taking and preserving of a person's head after killing them.
Corpus desk
Index EN-headhunter · headhunter · English
headhunter · rank #54,226 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #54,226
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH hazen
Nearest frequency peer: hazen (-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 “headhunter”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Haverford
Haverford
45,778 corpus weight
- hazen
hazen
45,776 corpus weight
- headhunter
headhunter
45,775 corpus weight
- heer
heer
45,774 corpus weight
- hematite
hematite
45,773 corpus weight
- heritable
heritable
45,771 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “headhunter” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | headhunter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɛdˌhʌntɚ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #54,226 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “headhunter” in English
Rare enough to double-check
headhunter is uncommon English at frequency #54,226 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhɛdˌhʌntɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
headhunter doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From head + hunter. The correct English form is headhunter, spelled H-E-A-D-H-U-N-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1A person who practises headhunting, the taking and preserving of a person's head after killing them.
- 2One who recruits skilled personnel, especially executive-level ones, for a company.
- 3A pitcher who throws at the batter's head.
- 4A player who uses a hockey stick to attempt to strike an opponent's head.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how headhunter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We were accommodated here in the verandah of the large house, in which were several great baskets of dried human heads, the trophies of past generations of head-hunters.
Theirs was the spirit which upheld Darwin among the gauchos of the Argentine or Wallace among the head-hunters of Malaya.
Etymology
From head + hunter.
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 "headhunter", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).