racketeer

/ˌɹækɪˈtɪə(ɹ)/

//ˌɹækɪˈtɪə(ɹ)// noun

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

"racketeer" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“racketeer” is uncommon English (frequency #80,788 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,788
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who commits crimes (especially fraud, bribery, loansharking, extortion etc.) to aid in running a shady or illegal business.

Corpus desk

Index EN-racketeer · racketeer · English

racketeer · rank #80,788 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,788
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH quintuple

Nearest frequency peer: quintuple (-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 “racketeer”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for racketeer
PropertyValue
Headwordracketeer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌɹækɪˈtɪə(ɹ)/
Letters9
Frequency rank#80,788
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “racketeer” 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).racketeerfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “quintuple” (#80,787), “rade” (#80,789), “queerness” (#80,786). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “racketeer” is #80,788. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

racketeer is uncommon English at frequency #80,788 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɹækɪˈtɪə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for racketeer, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From racket + -eer. The correct English form is racketeer, spelled R-A-C-K-E-T-E-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    One who commits crimes (especially fraud, bribery, loansharking, extortion etc.) to aid in running a shady or illegal business.
  2. 2
    One who instigates or has involvement with a racket.

Etymology

From racket + -eer.

This word in other languages

racketteur(Français)Gauner(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 "racketeer"?
"racketeer" is spelled R-A-C-K-E-T-E-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌɹækɪˈtɪə(ɹ)/.
What does "racketeer" mean?
As a noun, "racketeer" means: One who commits crimes (especially fraud, bribery, loansharking, extortion etc.) to aid in running a shady or illegal business.
How do you pronounce "racketeer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "racketeer" is /ˌɹækɪˈtɪə(ɹ)/. 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 "racketeer"?
From racket + -eer. 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 "racketeer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

quintuple#80,787queerness#80,786proconsul#80,777rehearing#80,805

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list