hookworm
/ˈhʊkˌwɝm/
"hookworm" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hookworm” is uncommon English (frequency #90,550 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,550
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of various parasitic bloodsucking roundworms which cause disease, especially the species Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus, having hooked mouthparts and entering their hosts by borin...
Corpus desk
Index EN-hookworm · hookworm · English
hookworm · rank #90,550 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,550
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH homi
Nearest frequency peer: homi (-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 “hookworm”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Hicksville
Hicksville
9,461 corpus weight
- Hirata
Hirata
9,458 corpus weight
- hitless
hitless
9,457 corpus weight
- homi
homi
9,452 corpus weight
- hookworm
hookworm
9,451 corpus weight
- hurtle
hurtle
9,443 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “hookworm” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hookworm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhʊkˌwɝm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #90,550 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hookworm” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hookworm is uncommon English at frequency #90,550 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhʊkˌwɝm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for hookworm in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hook + worm. The correct English form is hookworm, spelled H-O-O-K-W-O-R-M.
Definition
- 1Any of various parasitic bloodsucking roundworms which cause disease, especially the species Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus, having hooked mouthparts and entering their hosts by boring through the skin.
- 2Infection with one of these parasites.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hookworm appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A heavy infestation of more than 100 hookworms can suck up as much as 16 fluid ounces of blood a day. Since hookworm larvae can be transmitted through a mother's milk, infestations can kill infants.
a case of hookworm
Etymology
From hook + worm.
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
How do you spell "hookworm"?
What does "hookworm" mean?
How do you pronounce "hookworm"?
What is the origin of the word "hookworm"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hookworm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).