knobby
/ˈnɒbi/
"knobby" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“knobby” is uncommon English (frequency #82,463 among 1,236 “K” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,463
- frequency rank, English
- 1,236
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Resembling a knob.
Corpus desk
Index EN-knobby · knobby · English
knobby · rank #82,463 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #82,463
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,236
- PHOTO-FINISH klutz
Nearest frequency peer: klutz (-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 “knobby”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Kirschner
Kirschner
17,542 corpus weight
- kitchin
kitchin
17,541 corpus weight
- klink
klink
17,540 corpus weight
- klutz
klutz
17,539 corpus weight
- knobby
knobby
17,538 corpus weight
- knotting
knotting
17,536 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “knobby” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | knobby |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈnɒbi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #82,463 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “knobby” in English
Rare enough to double-check
knobby is uncommon English at frequency #82,463 among 1,236 “K” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈnɒbi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for knobby, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From knob + -y. The correct English form is knobby, spelled K-N-O-B-B-Y.
Definition
- 1Resembling a knob.
- 2Having many knobs or knob-like projections.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how knobby appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They appeared, upon section, like wedge-shaped, knobby formations, penetrating into the placenta fetalis, and were thus found in three places ; the smallest was 3 mm. and the largest was 15 mm. in diameter.
The baby kicked energetically. She caressed a knobby knee or elbow.
Etymology
From knob + -y.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "knobby", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).