kittiwake
"kittiwake" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kittiwake” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Either of two small gulls in the genus Rissa of the family Laridae that nest in colonies on sea cliffs and spend the winter on the open ocean.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kittiwake |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kittiwake” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for kittiwake is 9 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
kittiwake has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally Scots, imitative of the bird's call. The correct English form is kittiwake, spelled K-I-T-T-I-W-A-K-E.
Definition
- 1Either of two small gulls in the genus Rissa of the family Laridae that nest in colonies on sea cliffs and spend the winter on the open ocean.
- 2the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), no other kittiwake being found in Europe.
Etymology
Originally Scots, imitative of the bird's call.
Synonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "kittiwake"?
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Using “kittiwake”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-I-T-T-I-W-A-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.