outplay
/aʊtˈpleɪ/
"outplay" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“outplay” is uncommon English (frequency #87,644 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,644
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To excel or defeat in a game; to play better than.
Corpus desk
Index EN-outplay · outplay · English
outplay · rank #87,644 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #87,644
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH Ostrovsky
Nearest frequency peer: Ostrovsky (-2 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 “outplay”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Oranje
Oranje
12,363 corpus weight
- Ostrovsky
Ostrovsky
12,359 corpus weight
- outplay
outplay
12,357 corpus weight
- overman
overman
12,355 corpus weight
- overripe
overripe
12,354 corpus weight
- Owsley
Owsley
12,353 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “outplay” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | outplay |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /aʊtˈpleɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #87,644 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “outplay” in English
Rare enough to double-check
outplay is uncommon English at frequency #87,644 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /aʊtˈpleɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To excel or defeat in a game; to play better than.".
outplay doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From out- + play. The correct English form is outplay, spelled O-U-T-P-L-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To excel or defeat in a game; to play better than.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how outplay appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We were outplayed at tennis, but we outplayed them at football.
When Littlefinger really starts to bare his teeth, talking about a game he plays where he assumes the worst of people’s intentions, I started to hope the producers had outplayed us one last time, and that he was aware they were trying to play him.
Etymology
From out- + play.
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 "outplay", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).