in short supply
"in-short-supply" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“in short supply” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Scarce, or difficult to find, or purchase.
Corpus desk
Index EN-in-short-supply · in short supply · English
in short supply · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 15 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | in short supply |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “in short supply” in English
Rare enough to double-check
in short supply is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Scarce, or difficult to find, or purchase.".
in short supply has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is in short supply, spelled I-N- -S-H-O-R-T- -S-U-P-P-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Scarce, or difficult to find, or purchase.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how in short supply appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But that would require imagination - something in short supply in the Treasury.
The first half was attritional, too congested for England’s liking. Tuchel has talked about bringing Premier League levels of intensity but that was in short supply.
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.