motorboat

/ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt/

//ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

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

The verdict

“motorboat” is uncommon English (frequency #53,118 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,118
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any vessel driven by an engine (either inboard or outboard), but especially a small one.

Corpus desk

Index EN-motorboat · motorboat · English

motorboat · rank #53,118 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,118
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Motte

Nearest frequency peer: Motte (+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 “motorboat”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for motorboat
PropertyValue
Headwordmotorboat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt/
Letters9
Frequency rank#53,118
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “motorboat” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).motorboatfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Motte” (#53,119), “morphologically” (#53,116), “multitask” (#53,121). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “motorboat” is #53,118. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

motorboat is uncommon English at frequency #53,118 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any vessel driven by an engine (either inboard or outboard), but especially a small one.".

motorboat doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From motor + boat. The correct English form is motorboat, spelled M-O-T-O-R-B-O-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any vessel driven by an engine (either inboard or outboard), but especially a small one.

Etymology

From motor + boat.

This word in other languages

lancha(Español)Motorboot(Deutsch)lancha(Português)

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 "motorboat"?
"motorboat" is spelled M-O-T-O-R-B-O-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt/.
What does "motorboat" mean?
As a noun, "motorboat" means: Any vessel driven by an engine (either inboard or outboard), but especially a small one.
How do you pronounce "motorboat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "motorboat" is /ˈməʊtəˌbəʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "motorboat"?
From motor + boat. 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 "motorboat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

multitask#53,121metrology#53,100Methodism#53,099Nollywood#53,138

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list