icicle
/ˈʌɪsəkəl/
"icicle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“icicle” is uncommon English (frequency #57,446 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,446
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A drooping, tapering shape of ice.
Corpus desk
Index EN-icicle · icicle · English
icicle · rank #57,446 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,446
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 17,902
- PHOTO-FINISH ibu
Nearest frequency peer: ibu (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “icicle”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Huy
Huy
42,558 corpus weight
- ibu
ibu
42,556 corpus weight
- icicle
icicle
42,555 corpus weight
- Ikeda
Ikeda
42,554 corpus weight
- imager
imager
42,553 corpus weight
- imbalanced
imbalanced
42,552 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “icicle” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | icicle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʌɪsəkəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #57,446 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “icicle” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
icicle is uncommon English at frequency #57,446 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈʌɪsəkəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A drooping, tapering shape of ice.".
No misspelling variants are generated for icicle in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English isykle, isikel, from Old English *īsġicel, from Proto-West Germanic *īsajikil, *īsajekul, equivalent to ice + ickle. It was assimilated to nouns in -icle, from Latin -iculus—the expected spelling would have -ickle. Cognate with Saterland… The correct English form is icicle, spelled I-C-I-C-L-E.
Definition
- 1A drooping, tapering shape of ice.
Etymology
From Middle English isykle, isikel, from Old English *īsġicel, from Proto-West Germanic *īsajikil, *īsajekul, equivalent to ice + ickle. It was assimilated to nouns in -icle, from Latin -iculus—the expected spelling would have -ickle. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Iesjuukel (“icicle”), German Low German Iesjökel, dialectal Danish jisegel (“icicle”), Norwegian isjukel (“icicle”) and Elfdalian aisikkel.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "icicle", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency 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.