oilseed

noun

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

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

The verdict

“oilseed” is uncommon English (frequency #80,727 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,727
frequency rank, English
15,494
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The seed of any of several plants which are used commercially as a source of vegetable oil.

Key facts for oilseed
PropertyValue
Headwordoilseed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#80,727
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “oilseed” 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). oilseed 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

oilseed is uncommon English at frequency #80,727 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for oilseed in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From oil + seed. The correct English form is oilseed, spelled O-I-L-S-E-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    The seed of any of several plants which are used commercially as a source of vegetable oil.
  2. 2
    The plant that yields such seed.
  3. 3
    Synonym of milium (“keratin-filled cyst”).

Etymology

From oil + seed.

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 "oilseed"?
"oilseed" is spelled O-I-L-S-E-E-D.
What does "oilseed" mean?
As a noun, "oilseed" means: The seed of any of several plants which are used commercially as a source of vegetable oil.
What is the origin of the word "oilseed"?
From oil + seed. 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 “oilseed”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is O-I-L-S-E-E-D - 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