pleat

/pliːt/

//pliːt// noun

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

"pleat" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pleat” is uncommon English (frequency #76,219 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,219
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A fold in the fabric of a garment, usually a skirt, as a part of the design of the garment, with the purpose of adding controlled fullness and freedom of movement, or taking up excess fabric. There...

Corpus desk

Index EN-pleat · pleat · English

pleat · rank #76,219 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,219
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH PMD

Nearest frequency peer: PMD (+2 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 “pleat”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pleat
PropertyValue
Headwordpleat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pliːt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#76,219
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pleat” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).pleatfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “PMD” (#76,221), “pisco” (#76,216), “pock” (#76,223). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pleat” is #76,219. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pleat is uncommon English at frequency #76,219 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /pliːt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

pleat doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English, from a variant of plait, from Old French pleit. Doublet of plait. The correct English form is pleat, spelled P-L-E-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A fold in the fabric of a garment, usually a skirt, as a part of the design of the garment, with the purpose of adding controlled fullness and freedom of movement, or taking up excess fabric. There are many types of pleats, differing in their construction and appearance.
  2. 2
    A similar fold in a filter, lampshade, or various other products.
  3. 3
    A fold in an organ, usually a longitudinal fold in a long leaf such as that of palmetto, lending it stiffness.
  4. 4
    A plait.

Etymology

From Middle English, from a variant of plait, from Old French pleit. Doublet of plait.

This word in other languages

plisado(Español)pli(Français)Falte(Deutsch)

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 "pleat"?
"pleat" is spelled P-L-E-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /pliːt/.
What does "pleat" mean?
As a noun, "pleat" means: A fold in the fabric of a garment, usually a skirt, as a part of the design of the garment, with the purpose of adding controlled fullness and freedom of movement, or taking up excess fabric. There...
How do you pronounce "pleat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pleat" is /pliːt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "pleat"?
From Middle English, from a variant of plait, from Old French pleit. Doublet of plait. 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 "pleat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pisco#76,216Prato#76,234peart#76,203Prinz#76,236

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list