maxilla
/mækˈsɪl.ə/
"maxilla" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“maxilla” is uncommon English (frequency #56,274 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,274
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of jaw.
Corpus desk
Index EN-maxilla · maxilla · English
maxilla · rank #56,274 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,274
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH McInnes
Nearest frequency peer: McInnes (+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 “maxilla”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- massager
massager
43,732 corpus weight
- matchless
matchless
43,731 corpus weight
- Matterhorn
Matterhorn
43,729 corpus weight
- maxilla
maxilla
43,727 corpus weight
- McInnes
McInnes
43,726 corpus weight
- McVey
McVey
43,724 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “maxilla” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | maxilla |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mækˈsɪl.ə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #56,274 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “maxilla” in English
Rare enough to double-check
maxilla is uncommon English at frequency #56,274 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /mækˈsɪl.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for maxilla, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English, from Latin māxilla (“the jawbone, jaw”), diminutive of māla (“the cheekbone, jaw”). The correct English form is maxilla, spelled M-A-X-I-L-L-A.
Definition
- 1Synonym of jaw.
- 2Synonym of jaw.
- 3One of the first or second pair of mouthparts posterior to the mandibles in many arthropods that are used for tasting and manipulating food.
Etymology
From Middle English, from Latin māxilla (“the jawbone, jaw”), diminutive of māla (“the cheekbone, jaw”).
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 "maxilla", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).