intercostal
/ˌɪn.təˈkɒs.təl/
"intercostal" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“intercostal” is uncommon English (frequency #76,883 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,883
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Between the ribs of an animal or person.
Corpus desk
Index EN-intercostal · intercostal · English
intercostal · rank #76,883 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #76,883
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 17,902
- PHOTO-FINISH intercooler
Nearest frequency peer: intercooler (-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 “intercostal”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- inspo
inspo
23,121 corpus weight
- intercooler
intercooler
23,119 corpus weight
- intercostal
intercostal
23,118 corpus weight
- interschola…
interscholastic
23,116 corpus weight
- intestate
intestate
23,115 corpus weight
- intravascul…
intravascular
23,114 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “intercostal” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | intercostal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌɪn.təˈkɒs.təl/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #76,883 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “intercostal” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
intercostal is uncommon English at frequency #76,883 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌɪn.təˈkɒs.təl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
intercostal has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From inter- + costal. The correct English form is intercostal, spelled I-N-T-E-R-C-O-S-T-A-L.
Definition
- 1Between the ribs of an animal or person.
- 2Between the ribs of a boat.
Etymology
From inter- + costal.
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 "intercostal", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 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.