hooky
/ˈhʊki/
"hooky" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hooky” is uncommon English (frequency #71,573 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,573
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Absence from school or work; truancy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hooky |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhʊki/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #71,573 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hooky” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hooky is uncommon English at frequency #71,573 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhʊki/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Absence from school or work; truancy.".
No misspelling variants are generated for hooky in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1848 in New York City. Most likely from Dutch hoekje (“nook, corner; 'spot to hide' in hide-and-seek”). Formerly, "hoekje spelen" could be used to mean "to play hide-and-seek", though the common term for the game nowadays is verstoppertje.… The correct English form is hooky, spelled H-O-O-K-Y.
Definition
- 1Absence from school or work; truancy.
Etymology
First attested in 1848 in New York City. Most likely from Dutch hoekje (“nook, corner; 'spot to hide' in hide-and-seek”). Formerly, "hoekje spelen" could be used to mean "to play hide-and-seek", though the common term for the game nowadays is verstoppertje. By surface analysis, hook + -y.
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 “hooky”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-O-K-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhʊki/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.