kittle

verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"kittle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“kittle” is uncommon English (frequency #89,524 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,524
frequency rank, English
9,255
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To tickle, to touch lightly.

Corpus desk

Index EN-kittle · kittle · English

kittle · rank #89,524 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,524
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 9,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kingdon

Nearest frequency peer: Kingdon (-3 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 “kittle”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “kittle” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026
Key facts for kittle
PropertyValue
Headwordkittle
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters6
Frequency rank#89,524
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “kittle” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). kittle lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kittle is uncommon English at frequency #89,524 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To tickle, to touch lightly.".

kittle doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English kitelen, from Old English citelian (“to tickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *kitilōn, from Proto-Germanic *kitilōną, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *kitōną (“to tickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *geyd- (“to stick, jab, tickle”). Co… The correct English form is kittle, spelled K-I-T-T-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To tickle, to touch lightly.

Etymology

From Middle English kitelen, from Old English citelian (“to tickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *kitilōn, from Proto-Germanic *kitilōną, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *kitōną (“to tickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *geyd- (“to stick, jab, tickle”). Cognate with Dutch kittelen, kietelen (“to tickle”), Low German kettelen, ketelen (“to tickle”), German kitzeln (“to tickle”), Icelandic kitla (“to tickle”), Swedish kittla, kittsla, Danish kilde and perhaps Old Armenian կիծ- (kic-, “to sting, bite”), but note that many such words are sound-symbolic. Compare tickle.

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

How do you spell "kittle"?
"kittle" is spelled K-I-T-T-L-E.
What does "kittle" mean?
As a verb, "kittle" means: To tickle, to touch lightly.
What is the origin of the word "kittle"?
From Middle English kitelen, from Old English citelian (“to tickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *kitilōn, from Proto-Germanic *kitilōną, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *kitōną (“to tickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *geyd- (“to stick, jab, ti... 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 "kittle", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Kocher#89,528Kelman#89,518Kaveri#89,515Kannan#89,510
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list