mortise
/ˈmɔː(ɹ).tɪs/
"mortise" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mortise” is uncommon English (frequency #78,845 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,845
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A hole that is made to receive a tenon so as to form a joint.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mortise · mortise · English
mortise · rank #78,845 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,845
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Montenegrin
Nearest frequency peer: Montenegrin (-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 “mortise”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- monolayer
monolayer
21,160 corpus weight
- monotonic
monotonic
21,159 corpus weight
- Montenegrin
Montenegrin
21,158 corpus weight
- mortise
mortise
21,156 corpus weight
- multimeter
multimeter
21,153 corpus weight
- multiplatfo…
multiplatform
21,152 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “mortise” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mortise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɔː(ɹ).tɪs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #78,845 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “mortise” in English
Rare enough to double-check
mortise is uncommon English at frequency #78,845 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmɔː(ɹ).tɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
mortise has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English morteys, from Old French mortaise, from Arabic مُرْتَزّ (murtazz, “fastened”), from اِرْتَزَّ (irtazza). The correct English form is mortise, spelled M-O-R-T-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1A hole that is made to receive a tenon so as to form a joint.
- 2Stability; power of adhesion.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mortise appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If there is much gauging for the same size mortise and tenon to be done, and if a mortise gauge is not handy, a simple improvised gauge for the purpose can easily be made with two pieces of wood and four or five steel sprigs…
A keyed mortise-and-tenon joint is constructed the same as a doweled mortise and tenon joint except that the tenon projects far enough through the mortise to admit the insertion of a tapering key which draws the mortised piece firmly against the shoulder of the tenon.
Etymology
From Middle English morteys, from Old French mortaise, from Arabic مُرْتَزّ (murtazz, “fastened”), from اِرْتَزَّ (irtazza).
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 "mortise", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).