mincemeat

noun

"mincemeat" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mincemeat” is uncommon English (frequency #70,902 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,902
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A mixture of fruit, spices and suet used as a filling for mince pies.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mincemeat · mincemeat · English

mincemeat · rank #70,902 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,902
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Minkowski

Nearest frequency peer: Minkowski (+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 “mincemeat”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for mincemeat
PropertyValue
Headwordmincemeat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#70,902
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “mincemeat” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).mincemeatfalls 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: “Minkowski” (#70,904), “Michener” (#70,899), “misdiagnosis” (#70,906). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mincemeat” is #70,902. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mincemeat is uncommon English at frequency #70,902 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for mincemeat, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: An alteration of earlier minced meat; equivalent to mince + meat. The correct English form is mincemeat, spelled M-I-N-C-E-M-E-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A mixture of fruit, spices and suet used as a filling for mince pies.
  2. 2
    Minced meat, mince.
  3. 3
    A badly cut-up body or parts of a body.
  4. 4
    Something or someone utterly destroyed.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. And not to rub salt in wounds, when it comes to making mincemeat of the competition, American Joey Chestnut is still top banana.
  2. Slicing up every man, woman, and child into mincemeat.

Etymology

An alteration of earlier minced meat; equivalent to mince + meat.

Synonyms

minceground meatmince

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 "mincemeat"?
"mincemeat" is spelled M-I-N-C-E-M-E-A-T.
What does "mincemeat" mean?
As a noun, "mincemeat" means: A mixture of fruit, spices and suet used as a filling for mince pies.
What is the origin of the word "mincemeat"?
An alteration of earlier minced meat; equivalent to mince + meat. 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 "mincemeat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list