paperboy

noun

"paperboy" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“paperboy” is uncommon English (frequency #74,376 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#74,376
frequency rank, English
46,516
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A boy who delivers newspapers to houses on a paper round.

Key facts for paperboy
PropertyValue
Headwordpaperboy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#74,376
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “paperboy” 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). paperboy 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

paperboy is uncommon English at frequency #74,376 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A boy who delivers newspapers to houses on a paper round.".

paperboy doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword 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 paper + boy. The correct English form is paperboy, spelled P-A-P-E-R-B-O-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A boy who delivers newspapers to houses on a paper round.

Etymology

From paper + boy.

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 "paperboy"?
"paperboy" is spelled P-A-P-E-R-B-O-Y.
What does "paperboy" mean?
As a noun, "paperboy" means: A boy who delivers newspapers to houses on a paper round.
What is the origin of the word "paperboy"?
From paper + 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 “paperboy”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is P-A-P-E-R-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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list