laughingstock

noun

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

"laughingstock" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“laughingstock” is uncommon English (frequency #70,826 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,826
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative spelling of laughing stock.

Corpus desk

Index EN-laughingstock · laughingstock · English

laughingstock · rank #70,826 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,826
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH laudanum

Nearest frequency peer: laudanum (-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 “laughingstock”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for laughingstock
PropertyValue
Headwordlaughingstock
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Frequency rank#70,826
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “laughingstock” 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).laughingstockfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “laudanum” (#70,825), “layaway” (#70,827), “LDC” (#70,828). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “laughingstock” is #70,826. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

laughingstock is uncommon English at frequency #70,826 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of laughing stock.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for laughingstock, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From laughing + stock. The correct English form is laughingstock, spelled L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G-S-T-O-C-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of laughing stock.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how laughingstock appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nothing had worked the way sheʼd wanted, and now she was the laughingstock of the family.

Etymology

From laughing + stock.

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 "laughingstock"?
"laughingstock" is spelled L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G-S-T-O-C-K.
What does "laughingstock" mean?
As a noun, "laughingstock" means: Alternative spelling of laughing stock.
What is the origin of the word "laughingstock"?
From laughing + stock. 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 "laughingstock", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

overqualified#70,983dishonourable#70,607reciprocation#71,046campylobacter#70,533

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list