impaling

/ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/

//ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"impaling" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“impaling” is uncommon English (frequency #72,416 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,416
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of impale

Corpus desk

Index EN-impaling · impaling · English

impaling · rank #72,416 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,416
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH ilium

Nearest frequency peer: ilium (-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 “impaling”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “impaling” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for impaling
PropertyValue
Headwordimpaling
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#72,416
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “impaling” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).impalingfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “ilium” (#72,415), “incomparably” (#72,419), “ignorantly” (#72,412). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “impaling” is #72,416. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

impaling is uncommon English at frequency #72,416 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "present participle and gerund of impale".

No generated misspelling entries exist for impaling in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is impaling, spelled I-M-P-A-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of impale

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 "impaling"?
"impaling" is spelled I-M-P-A-L-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/.
What does "impaling" mean?
As a verb, "impaling" means: present participle and gerund of impale
How do you pronounce "impaling"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "impaling" is /ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "impaling" come from?
"impaling" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "impaling", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Irenaeus#72,434Holcombe#72,394headship#72,383Kasabian#72,455

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list