ketch
/kɛt͡ʃ/
"ketch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ketch” is an uncommon English word, ranked #63,024 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #63,024
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ketch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɛt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #63,024 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ketch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ketch is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɛt͡ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #63,024 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ketch, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English catche, from cacchen (“to catch”). For the modern form with /ɛ/, compare the pronunciation /kɛtʃ/ of catch. The correct English form is ketch, spelled K-E-T-C-H.
Definition
- 1A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
Etymology
From Middle English catche, from cacchen (“to catch”). For the modern form with /ɛ/, compare the pronunciation /kɛtʃ/ of catch.
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 “ketch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-E-T-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɛt͡ʃ/ (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
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.