problem child
"problem-child" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“problem child” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A child who is particularly difficult to raise or educate, especially due to a lack of self-control and disruptive and antisocial behavior.
Corpus desk
Index EN-problem-child · problem child · English
problem child · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | problem child |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “problem child” in English
Rare enough to double-check
problem child is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for problem child in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is problem child, spelled P-R-O-B-L-E-M- -C-H-I-L-D.
Definition
- 1A child who is particularly difficult to raise or educate, especially due to a lack of self-control and disruptive and antisocial behavior.
- 2Someone or something persistently difficult or vexing; a frequent source of trouble or annoyance.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how problem child appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Of recent times very much has been said regarding the problem child, but as Lady Stradbroke pointed out last week but little is being done to cope with the menace that child is to itself and to the community.
Hill was a problem child who was sent to Woodlands because his parents couldn't handle him at home.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.