herringbone
/ˈhɛɹɪŋˌboʊn/
"herringbone" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“herringbone” is uncommon English (frequency #63,682 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,682
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A bone of a herring.
Corpus desk
Index EN-herringbone · herringbone · English
herringbone · rank #63,682 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,682
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH her's
Nearest frequency peer: her's (-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 “herringbone”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Heim
Heim
36,323 corpus weight
- Hems
Hems
36,322 corpus weight
- her's
her's
36,320 corpus weight
- herringbone
herringbone
36,319 corpus weight
- Honshu
Honshu
36,316 corpus weight
- hosanna
hosanna
36,315 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “herringbone” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | herringbone |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɛɹɪŋˌboʊn/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #63,682 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “herringbone” in English
Rare enough to double-check
herringbone is uncommon English at frequency #63,682 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhɛɹɪŋˌboʊn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for herringbone in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From herring + bone. The correct English form is herringbone, spelled H-E-R-R-I-N-G-B-O-N-E.
Definition
- 1A bone of a herring.
- 2A zigzag pattern, especially made by bricks, on a cloth, or by stitches in sewing.
- 3A method of climbing a hill by pointing the skis outward in a V-shape to keep from sliding backwards.
- 4Twilled fabric woven in rows of parallel sloping lines.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how herringbone appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The prosperity of Amsterdam was then so great that it was said that Amsterdam was "founded on herring-bones."
'The best path of life is but a herring-bone pattern.'
Etymology
From herring + bone.
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 "herringbone", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).