perlite
"perlite" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“perlite” is uncommon English (frequency #74,390 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,390
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An amorphous volcanic glass formed by the hydration of obsidian.
Corpus desk
Index EN-perlite · perlite · English
perlite · rank #74,390 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,390
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH periodontitis
Nearest frequency peer: periodontitis (-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 “perlite”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- peplum
peplum
25,615 corpus weight
- periodontit…
periodontitis
25,612 corpus weight
- perlite
perlite
25,611 corpus weight
- personify
personify
25,610 corpus weight
- Petrarch
Petrarch
25,609 corpus weight
- petrel
petrel
25,608 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “perlite” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | perlite |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #74,390 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “perlite” in English
Rare enough to double-check
perlite is uncommon English at frequency #74,390 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for perlite, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French perle (“pearl”) + -ite. The correct English form is perlite, spelled P-E-R-L-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1An amorphous volcanic glass formed by the hydration of obsidian.
- 2The lightweight insulating material and aggregate resulting from expanding perlite glass by heat.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how perlite appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Technical terms like ferrite, perlite, graphite, and hardenite were bandied to and fro, and when Paget glibly brought out such a rare exotic as ferro-molybdenum, Benson forgot that he was a master ship-builder, […]
Etymology
From French perle (“pearl”) + -ite.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "perlite", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).