ketch
/kɛt͡ʃ/
"ketch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ketch” is uncommon English (frequency #63,024 among 1,236 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,024
- frequency rank, English
- 1,236
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ketch · ketch · English
ketch · rank #63,024 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,024
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,236
- PHOTO-FINISH Kenley
Nearest frequency peer: Kenley (-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 “ketch”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- kazoo
kazoo
36,981 corpus weight
- kbps
kbps
36,980 corpus weight
- Kenley
Kenley
36,978 corpus weight
- ketch
ketch
36,977 corpus weight
- kettlebell
kettlebell
36,976 corpus weight
- knocker
knocker
36,973 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ketch” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “ketch” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ketch is uncommon English at frequency #63,024 among 1,236 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɛt͡ʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ketch appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] to finish her new Habit or Appearance, and make her Change compleat, he ordered her Sails to be alter’d; and as she sailed before with a Half-Sprit, like a Yacht, she sailed now with square Sail and Mizen Mast, like a Ketch; so that, in a Word, she was a perfect Cheat […]
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.
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ketch", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).