kegel

noun

"kegel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“kegel” is uncommon English (frequency #79,668 among 1,236 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,668
frequency rank, English
1,236
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The pubococcygeal muscles.

Corpus desk

Index EN-kegel · kegel · English

kegel · rank #79,668 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #79,668
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,236
  • PHOTO-FINISH Karelia

Nearest frequency peer: Karelia (-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 “kegel”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for kegel
PropertyValue
Headwordkegel
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#79,668
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “kegel” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).kegelfalls 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: “Karelia” (#79,667), “kampung” (#79,666), “khon” (#79,670). Among 1,236 “K” headwords, “kegel” is #79,668. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kegel is uncommon English at frequency #79,668 among 1,236 “K” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for kegel, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: After Arnold Kegel. The surname is of German origin; see Kegel (“skittle, bowling pin”). The correct English form is kegel, spelled K-E-G-E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    The pubococcygeal muscles.
  2. 2
    A contraction of the pubococcygeal muscles, performed for the purpose of strengthening them.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how kegel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The parenting magazines are on a higher moral plane than the how-to-get-a-guy magazines, just as a man going home to his wife and children (or a woman breast-feeding a baby) is on a higher moral plane than a man out trolling for nookie (or a woman flexing her Kegels in preparation for a date).
  2. Done for a few minutes a day, Kegels can ease childbirth, help with recovery, prevent incontinence — even improve your sex life.

Etymology

After Arnold Kegel. The surname is of German origin; see Kegel (“skittle, bowling pin”).

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 "kegel"?
"kegel" is spelled K-E-G-E-L.
What does "kegel" mean?
As a noun, "kegel" means: The pubococcygeal muscles.
What is the origin of the word "kegel"?
After Arnold Kegel. The surname is of German origin; see Kegel (“skittle, bowling pin”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "kegel", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list