marionette
/ˌmæɹi.əˈnɛt/
"marionette" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“marionette” is uncommon English (frequency #56,897 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,897
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A puppet, usually made of wood, which is animated by the pulling of strings.
Corpus desk
Index EN-marionette · marionette · English
marionette · rank #56,897 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,897
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Mariel
Nearest frequency peer: Mariel (-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 “marionette”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Mahayana
Mahayana
43,108 corpus weight
- maketh
maketh
43,107 corpus weight
- Mangan
Mangan
43,106 corpus weight
- Mariel
Mariel
43,105 corpus weight
- marionette
marionette
43,104 corpus weight
- masochist
masochist
43,102 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “marionette” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | marionette |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌmæɹi.əˈnɛt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #56,897 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “marionette” in English
Rare enough to double-check
marionette is uncommon English at frequency #56,897 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌmæɹi.əˈnɛt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for marionette in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French marionnette. The word had originally meant a small statue of the Virgin Mary, then also a puppet of her used in religious theatrical presentations, finally generalised to any puppet. The correct English form is marionette, spelled M-A-R-I-O-N-E-T-T-E.
Definition
- 1A puppet, usually made of wood, which is animated by the pulling of strings.
- 2The buffel duck.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how marionette appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If you think we are worked by strings, Like a Japanese marionette, You don't understand these things: It is simply Court etiquette.
Etymology
Borrowed from French marionnette. The word had originally meant a small statue of the Virgin Mary, then also a puppet of her used in religious theatrical presentations, finally generalised to any puppet.
This word in other languages
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 "marionette", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).