polythene
/ˈpɑlɪθin/
"polythene" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“polythene” is uncommon English (frequency #78,945 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,945
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of polyethylene.
Corpus desk
Index EN-polythene · polythene · English
polythene · rank #78,945 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,945
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Pomerania
Nearest frequency peer: Pomerania (+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 “polythene”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- pincushion
pincushion
21,060 corpus weight
- plaice
plaice
21,059 corpus weight
- polythene
polythene
21,056 corpus weight
- Pomerania
Pomerania
21,055 corpus weight
- pone
pone
21,053 corpus weight
- poorhouse
poorhouse
21,052 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “polythene” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | polythene |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɑlɪθin/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #78,945 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “polythene” in English
Rare enough to double-check
polythene is uncommon English at frequency #78,945 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɑlɪθin/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of polyethylene.".
No misspelling variants are generated for polythene in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Contraction of polyethylene. The correct English form is polythene, spelled P-O-L-Y-T-H-E-N-E.
Definition
- 1Synonym of polyethylene.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how polythene appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Well, you should see Polythene Pam, / She's so good looking but she looks like a man. / Well, you should see her in drag, / Dressed in her polythene bag. / Yes, you should see Polythene Pam.
All that was needed [to make a hula hoop] was a bag of high-density polythene dust, a handful of two-inch wooden plugs, half a pound of wire staples, and the help of a man with an extrusion machine, which simply meant anyone who could make a length of plastic hose.
Etymology
Contraction of polyethylene.
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 "polythene", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).