needling
/ˈniːdlɪŋ/
"needling" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“needling” is uncommon English (frequency #71,731 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,731
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A needy person.
Corpus desk
Index EN-needling · needling · English
needling · rank #71,731 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #71,731
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH neurophysiolo…
Nearest frequency peer: neurophysiology (+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 “needling”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Nazarbayev
Nazarbayev
28,273 corpus weight
- nearness
nearness
28,272 corpus weight
- needling
needling
28,270 corpus weight
- neurophysio…
neurophysiology
28,269 corpus weight
- neurotoxic
neurotoxic
28,268 corpus weight
- Nevers
Nevers
28,267 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “needling” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | needling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈniːdlɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #71,731 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “needling” in English
Rare enough to double-check
needling is uncommon English at frequency #71,731 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈniːdlɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A needy person.".
needling doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From need + -ling. The correct English form is needling, spelled N-E-E-D-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1A needy person.
Etymology
From need + -ling.
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 "needling", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).