homophily

noun

"homophily" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The tendency of individuals to associate with others of the same kind.

Corpus desk

Index EN-homophily · homophily · English

homophily · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for homophily
PropertyValue
Headwordhomophily
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “homophily” in English

homophilyfalls 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

homophily is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The tendency of individuals to associate with others of the same kind.".

homophily doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From homo- + -phily. The correct English form is homophily, spelled H-O-M-O-P-H-I-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The tendency of individuals to associate with others of the same kind.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how homophily appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. In this research we explore whether homophily as an organizing principle affects the performance of immigrant entrepreneurs in Germany.
  2. Homophily is the tendency for there to be higher rates of contact between similar people than between dissimilar people. It is the social process reflected in that old bit of folk wisdom: “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Etymology

From homo- + -phily.

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 "homophily"?
"homophily" is spelled H-O-M-O-P-H-I-L-Y.
What does "homophily" mean?
As a noun, "homophily" means: The tendency of individuals to associate with others of the same kind.
What is the origin of the word "homophily"?
From homo- + -phily. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list