microtubule

noun

"microtubule" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“microtubule” is uncommon English (frequency #65,309 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#65,309
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A small tube made of protein and found in cells; part of the cytoskeleton.

Corpus desk

Index EN-microtubule · microtubule · English

microtubule · rank #65,309 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #65,309
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH microorganism

Nearest frequency peer: microorganism (-2 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 “microtubule”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for microtubule
PropertyValue
Headwordmicrotubule
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#65,309
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “microtubule” 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).microtubulefalls 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: “microorganism” (#65,307), “micrometer” (#65,306), “Mingus” (#65,312). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “microtubule” is #65,309. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

microtubule is uncommon English at frequency #65,309 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small tube made of protein and found in cells; part of the cytoskeleton.".

No misspelling variants are generated for microtubule in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From micro- + tubule. The correct English form is microtubule, spelled M-I-C-R-O-T-U-B-U-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A small tube made of protein and found in cells; part of the cytoskeleton.

Etymology

From micro- + tubule.

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

How do you spell "microtubule"?
"microtubule" is spelled M-I-C-R-O-T-U-B-U-L-E.
What does "microtubule" mean?
As a noun, "microtubule" means: A small tube made of protein and found in cells; part of the cytoskeleton.
What is the origin of the word "microtubule"?
From micro- + tubule. 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 "microtubule", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list