MacPhail

name

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

"macphail" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“MacPhail” is uncommon English (frequency #95,099 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#95,099
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Corpus desk

Index EN-macphail · MacPhail · English

MacPhail · rank #95,099 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #95,099
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH macky

Nearest frequency peer: macky (-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 “MacPhail”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for MacPhail
PropertyValue
HeadwordMacPhail
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters8
Frequency rank#95,099
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “MacPhail” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).MacPhailfalls 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: “macky” (#95,098), “Machynlleth” (#95,097), “Mahar” (#95,103). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “MacPhail” is #95,099. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

MacPhail is uncommon English at frequency #95,099 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A surname from Scottish Gaelic.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for MacPhail, 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: Variant of McPhail. The correct English form is MacPhail, spelled M-A-C-P-H-A-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Etymology

Variant of McPhail.

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 "MacPhail"?
"MacPhail" is spelled M-A-C-P-H-A-I-L.
What does "MacPhail" mean?
As a proper noun, "MacPhail" means: A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
What is the origin of the word "MacPhail"?
Variant of McPhail. 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 "MacPhail", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

lynchpin#95,093longhand#95,088lodestar#95,085McAleese#95,119

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list