newsboy

noun

"newsboy" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“newsboy” is uncommon English (frequency #86,566 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,566
frequency rank, English
24,391
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A boy, or by extension a man, who sells and/or delivers newspapers.

Key facts for newsboy
PropertyValue
Headwordnewsboy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#86,566
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “newsboy” sits in English frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

newsboy is uncommon English at frequency #86,566 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for newsboy in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From news + boy. The correct English form is newsboy, spelled N-E-W-S-B-O-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A boy, or by extension a man, who sells and/or delivers newspapers.
  2. 2
    Ellipsis of newsboy cap.

Etymology

From news + boy.

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 "newsboy"?
"newsboy" is spelled N-E-W-S-B-O-Y.
What does "newsboy" mean?
As a noun, "newsboy" means: A boy, or by extension a man, who sells and/or delivers newspapers.
What is the origin of the word "newsboy"?
From news + boy. 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.

Using “newsboy”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is N-E-W-S-B-O-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list