nonce
/nɒns/
"nonce" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nonce” is an uncommon English word, ranked #56,938 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #56,938
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nonce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɒns/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #56,938 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nonce” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nonce is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /nɒns/. Corpus data places it at rank #56,938 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
nonce has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English nonse, nones, a rebracketing of Middle English to þen anes, for þen anes (to/for the once (i.e., the one occasion or instance)), from the dative singular neuter of þe. The cryptography sense is commonly said to be a contraction… The correct English form is nonce, spelled N-O-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose.
- 2A nonce word.
- 3A value constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to prevent replay attacks.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English nonse, nones, a rebracketing of Middle English to þen anes, for þen anes (to/for the once (i.e., the one occasion or instance)), from the dative singular neuter of þe. The cryptography sense is commonly said to be a contraction of number used once, although this is probably incorrect.
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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Using “nonce”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-O-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /nɒns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.