knifes

/naɪfs/

//naɪfs// verb

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

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

The verdict

“knifes” is uncommon English (frequency #77,837 among 1,236 “K” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,837
frequency rank, English
1,236
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - third-person singular simple present indicative of knife

Corpus desk

Index EN-knifes · knifes · English

knifes · rank #77,837 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,837
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,236
  • PHOTO-FINISH kneaded

Nearest frequency peer: kneaded (-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 “knifes”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for knifes
PropertyValue
Headwordknifes
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/naɪfs/
Letters6
Frequency rank#77,837
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “knifes” 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).knifesfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “kneaded” (#77,836), “knowed” (#77,838), “KSH” (#77,840). Among 1,236 “K” headwords, “knifes” is #77,837. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

knifes is uncommon English at frequency #77,837 among 1,236 “K” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /naɪfs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "third-person singular simple present indicative of knife".

No misspelling variants are generated for knifes in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is knifes, spelled K-N-I-F-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    third-person singular simple present indicative of knife

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 "knifes"?
"knifes" is spelled K-N-I-F-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is /naɪfs/.
What does "knifes" mean?
As a verb, "knifes" means: third-person singular simple present indicative of knife
How do you pronounce "knifes"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "knifes" is /naɪfs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "knifes" come from?
"knifes" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "knifes", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

knowed#77,838Kuchar#77,842Keiser#77,830Kassim#77,826

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list