pentathlon

noun

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

"pentathlon" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pentathlon” is uncommon English (frequency #82,652 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,652
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An ancient athletics discipline, featuring five events: stadion, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus

Corpus desk

Index EN-pentathlon · pentathlon · English

pentathlon · rank #82,652 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,652
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH pend

Nearest frequency peer: pend (-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 “pentathlon”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “pentathlon” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pentathlon
PropertyValue
Headwordpentathlon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#82,652
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pentathlon” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).pentathlonfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “pend” (#82,651), “Penarth” (#82,650), “perfumer” (#82,655). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pentathlon” is #82,652. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pentathlon is uncommon English at frequency #82,652 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pentathlon, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Ancient Greek πένταθλον (péntathlon), from πέντε (pénte, “five”) + ἆθλον (âthlon, “contest”). By surface analysis, penta- + -athlon. The correct English form is pentathlon, spelled P-E-N-T-A-T-H-L-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An ancient athletics discipline, featuring five events: stadion, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus
  2. 2
    Ellipsis of women's pentathlon (“a 20th-century athletics discipline for women, the women's counterpart of the men's decathlon, the predecessor to the women's heptathlon, featuring five events: hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump, and a run”).
  3. 3
    Ellipsis of modern pentathlon, a discipline with five events based on late-19th century basic military skills.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pentathlon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. In the end, why not be happy with both, with the BMXes and the pentathlons, with the swans of synchro and the Quasimodos of wrestling? Sweet.
  2. Dwindling interest and a reputation for being outdated couldn’t change modern pentathlon. A brief video clip of a coach punching a horse at the Tokyo Olympics has altered it forever. After more than a century of having its participants compete by running, shooting, fencing, swimming and riding, modern pentathlon will drop equestrian jumping from the event…

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πένταθλον (péntathlon), from πέντε (pénte, “five”) + ἆθλον (âthlon, “contest”). By surface analysis, penta- + -athlon.

This word in other languages

pentatlón(Español)pentathlon(Français)Fünfkampf(Deutsch)pentatlo(Português)

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 "pentathlon"?
"pentathlon" is spelled P-E-N-T-A-T-H-L-O-N.
What does "pentathlon" mean?
As a noun, "pentathlon" means: An ancient athletics discipline, featuring five events: stadion, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus
What is the origin of the word "pentathlon"?
Borrowed from Ancient Greek πένταθλον (péntathlon), from πέντε (pénte, “five”) + ἆθλον (âthlon, “contest”). By surface analysis, penta- + -athlon. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pentathlon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Perryville#82,656Papandreou#82,638poinsettia#82,674polyhedral#82,677

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list