motherhouse
"motherhouse" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“motherhouse” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The monastery from which the other 'houses' of a religious order or congregation were (directly or indirectly) founded, often eponymous.
Corpus desk
Index EN-motherhouse · motherhouse · English
motherhouse · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | motherhouse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “motherhouse” in English
Rare enough to double-check
motherhouse is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for motherhouse in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From mother + house. The correct English form is motherhouse, spelled M-O-T-H-E-R-H-O-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1The monastery from which the other 'houses' of a religious order or congregation were (directly or indirectly) founded, often eponymous.
- 2The convent which is the seat (and often the above original foundation) of the superior of an order or congregation, and/or on which lower ranking houses (such as priories under an abbot) depend.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how motherhouse appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The Cistercian order is named after its motherhouse Cîteaux in Burgundy, where abbot St. Bernard initiated in 1113 the reform of their branch of the Benedictine order, which has its motherhouse at Monte Cassino.
Etymology
From mother + house.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.