pigeonhole
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
10 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "pigeonhole", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "pigeonhole" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "pigeonhole" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
pigeonhole is aEnglishnoun. It means: One of an array of open compartments for housing pigeons in a dovecote or pigeon loft. Pronounced /ˈpɪdʒ(ɪ)nhəʊl/.
Compare similar words
See how pigeonhole compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pigeonhole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɪdʒ(ɪ)nhəʊl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #75,297 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pigeonhole is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɪdʒ(ɪ)nhəʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #75,297 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for pigeonhole in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from pigeon + hole. The verb is derived from the noun. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is pigeonhole, spelled P-I-G-E-O-N-H-O-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1One of an array of open compartments for housing pigeons in a dovecote or pigeon loft.
- 2A hole or opening in a door or wall for a pigeon to pass through.
- 3One of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting or storing letters, papers, or other items.
- 4One of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting or storing letters, papers, or other items.
- 5A compartment or cubicle in a room or other place, especially one which is (excessively) small.
- 6A small opening for looking or passing things through.
- 7A small opening for looking or passing things through.
- 8A form of stocks with openings for restraining a person's hands or feet; also, one of the openings in the device.
- 9A seat in the top row of the gallery of a theatre.
- 10A notional category or class into which someone or something is placed.
- 11A space between two words that is too wide.
Etymology
The noun is derived from pigeon + hole. The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #75,297 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pigeonhole"?
What does "pigeonhole" mean?
How do you pronounce "pigeonhole"?
What is the origin of the word "pigeonhole"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: