pumice
/ˈpʌm.ɪs/
"pumice" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pumice” is uncommon English (frequency #52,574 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,574
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A light, porous type of pyroclastic igneous rock, formed during explosive volcanic eruptions when liquid lava is ejected into water or air as a froth containing masses of gas bubbles, which are fro...
Corpus desk
Index EN-pumice · pumice · English
pumice · rank #52,574 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,574
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH publican
Nearest frequency peer: publican (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “pumice”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- ptr
ptr
47,430 corpus weight
- publican
publican
47,429 corpus weight
- pumice
pumice
47,427 corpus weight
- pupa
pupa
47,425 corpus weight
- Pyrex
Pyrex
47,424 corpus weight
- rancor
rancor
47,421 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pumice” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pumice |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpʌm.ɪs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #52,574 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pumice” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
pumice is uncommon English at frequency #52,574 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpʌm.ɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A light, porous type of pyroclastic igneous rock, formed during explosive volcanic eruptions when liquid lava is ejected into water or air as a froth containing masses of gas bubbles, which are fro...".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pumice, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Anglo-Norman and Old French pomis (“pumice stone”), from Latin pūmex (“pumice stone”). Doublet of pounce. The correct English form is pumice, spelled P-U-M-I-C-E.
Definition
- 1A light, porous type of pyroclastic igneous rock, formed during explosive volcanic eruptions when liquid lava is ejected into water or air as a froth containing masses of gas bubbles, which are frozen into the rock as the lava solidifies.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how pumice appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The wind blew close to the ground - it rooted among the tussock grass - slithered along the road, so that the white pumice dust swirled in our faces - settled and sifted over us and was like a dry-skin itching for growth on our bodies.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman and Old French pomis (“pumice stone”), from Latin pūmex (“pumice stone”). Doublet of pounce.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pumice", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
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- Usage frequency rank #52,574 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.