rack
/ɹæk/
"rack" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rack” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,336 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,336
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rack |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹæk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #8,336 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rack” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rack is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹæk/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,336 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for rack, with forms such as "arck", "racck", and "rackk". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "RC", "ran", "ray", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rakke, rekke, from Middle Dutch rac, recke, rec (Dutch rek), see rekken. The correct English form is rack, spelled R-A-C-K.
Definition
- 1A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other.
- 2Any of various kinds of frame for holding luggage or other objects on a vehicle or vessel.
- 3A device, incorporating a ratchet, used to torture victims by stretching them beyond their natural limits.
- 4A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes.
- 5A bunk.
- 6Sleep.
- 7A distaff.
- 8A bar with teeth on its face or edge, to work with those of a gearwheel, pinion, or worm, which is to drive or be driven by it.
- 9A bar with teeth on its face or edge, to work with a pawl as a ratchet allowing movement in one direction only, used for example in a handbrake or crossbow.
- 10A cranequin, a mechanism including a rack, pinion and pawl, providing both mechanical advantage and a ratchet, used to bend and cock a crossbow.
- 11A set of antlers (as on deer, moose or elk).
- 12A cut of meat involving several adjacent ribs.
- 13A bone of a horse.
- 14A hollow triangle used for aligning the balls at the start of a game.
- 15A plastic tray used for holding and moving chips.
- 16A woman's breasts.
- 17A friction device for abseiling, consisting of a frame with five or more metal bars, around which the rope is threaded.
- 18A climber's set of equipment for setting up protection and belays, consisting of runners, slings, carabiners, nuts, Friends, etc.
- 19A grate on which bacon is laid.
- 20A set with a distributive binary operation whose action on the set is invertible.
- 21A thousand dollars, especially if the proceeds are from a crime.
Etymology
From Middle English rakke, rekke, from Middle Dutch rac, recke, rec (Dutch rek), see rekken.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: arck,racck,rackk,rakc,rcak,rrack
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rack - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “rack”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹæk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “RC” - see the side-by-side comparison. rack vs RC
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.