indole
/ˈɪndəʊl/
"indole" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“indole” is uncommon English (frequency #67,528 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,528
- frequency rank, English
- 2,140
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 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...
Corpus desk
Index EN-indole · indole · English
indole · rank #67,528 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,528
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,140
- PHOTO-FINISH inculcate
Nearest frequency peer: inculcate (-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 “indole”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- improbably
improbably
32,476 corpus weight
- imputation
imputation
32,475 corpus weight
- inculcate
inculcate
32,474 corpus weight
- indole
indole
32,473 corpus weight
- ingratitude
ingratitude
32,472 corpus weight
- integrally
integrally
32,470 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “indole” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “indole” in English
Rare enough to double-check
indole is uncommon English at frequency #67,528 among 2,140 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how indole appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The Aspidosperma alkaloids are the largest group of indole alkaloids.
Intakes of indoles or their parental glucosinolates, may have beneficial health effects as well as toxicological effects.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "indole", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).