payola
/peɪˈoʊlə/
"payola" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“payola” is uncommon English (frequency #96,343 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,343
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A bribe given in exchange for a favor, such as one given in exchange for the promotion of goods or services (originally one given to a disk jockey to play a record).
Corpus desk
Index EN-payola · payola · English
payola · rank #96,343 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,343
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 46,516
- PHOTO-FINISH pawed
Nearest frequency peer: pawed (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “payola”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- patentee
patentee
3,661 corpus weight
- patronymic
patronymic
3,660 corpus weight
- pawed
pawed
3,659 corpus weight
- payola
payola
3,658 corpus weight
- PBI
PBI
3,656 corpus weight
- PDU
PDU
3,655 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “payola” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | payola |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /peɪˈoʊlə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #96,343 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “payola” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
payola is uncommon English at frequency #96,343 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /peɪˈoʊlə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A bribe given in exchange for a favor, such as one given in exchange for the promotion of goods or services (originally one given to a disk jockey to play a record).".
payola doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps a blend of pay + Victrola, equivalent to pay + -ola. The correct English form is payola, spelled P-A-Y-O-L-A.
Definition
- 1A bribe given in exchange for a favor, such as one given in exchange for the promotion of goods or services (originally one given to a disk jockey to play a record).
Etymology
Perhaps a blend of pay + Victrola, equivalent to pay + -ola.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "payola", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency 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.