indole
/ˈɪndəʊl/
"indole" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“indole” is uncommon English (frequency #67,528 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,528
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An organic compound, C₈H₇N, found in coal tar, and produced in the gut by the bacterial decomposition of tryptophan; it is an aromatic bicyclic heterocycle having a benzene ring fused with a pyrrol...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | indole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪndəʊl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #67,528 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “indole” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
indole is uncommon English at frequency #67,528 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɪndəʊl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for indole in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From indigo + Latin oleum (“oil”); see -ole. The correct English form is indole, spelled I-N-D-O-L-E.
Definition
- 1An organic compound, C₈H₇N, found in coal tar, and produced in the gut by the bacterial decomposition of tryptophan; it is an aromatic bicyclic heterocycle having a benzene ring fused with a pyrrole ring; indole and its derivatives occur widely in nature and have many industrial applications.
- 2Any of the derivatives of indole.
Etymology
From indigo + Latin oleum (“oil”); see -ole.
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
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Using “indole”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-D-O-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪndəʊl/ (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.