paleontologist
"paleontologist" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“paleontologist” is uncommon English (frequency #51,899 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,899
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who studies paleontology.
Corpus desk
Index EN-paleontologist · paleontologist · English
paleontologist · rank #51,899 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,899
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH panelling
Nearest frequency peer: panelling (+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 “paleontologist”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- overgrowth
overgrowth
48,106 corpus weight
- overshoot
overshoot
48,105 corpus weight
- OWO
OWO
48,104 corpus weight
- paleontolog…
paleontologist
48,102 corpus weight
- panelling
panelling
48,101 corpus weight
- papillon
papillon
48,099 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “paleontologist” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | paleontologist |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Frequency rank | #51,899 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “paleontologist” in English
Rare enough to double-check
paleontologist is uncommon English at frequency #51,899 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "One who studies paleontology.".
No misspelling variants are generated for paleontologist in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From paleontology + -ist. The correct English form is paleontologist, spelled P-A-L-E-O-N-T-O-L-O-G-I-S-T.
Definition
- 1One who studies paleontology.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how paleontologist appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
An alternative approach is to break down cultures into ab- stract elements and to establish, between elements of the same type in different cultures, rather than between cultures themselves, the same kind of relationships of historical descent and progressive differentiation which the paleontologist sees in the evolution of species.
In the late nineteenth century, paleontologists began to catalog the many curious correspondences exhibited by fossils gathered on different continents.
Etymology
From paleontology + -ist.
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
How do you spell "paleontologist"?
What does "paleontologist" mean?
What is the origin of the word "paleontologist"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "paleontologist", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 14 letters (nearest by frequency rank).