rain cats and dogs
"rain-cats-and-dogs" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rain cats and dogs” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To rain very heavily.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rain cats and dogs |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rain cats and dogs” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
rain cats and dogs is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To rain very heavily.".
No misspelling variants are generated for rain cats and dogs in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown, but see examples of early use in Citations. The correct English form is rain cats and dogs, spelled R-A-I-N- -C-A-T-S- -A-N-D- -D-O-G-S.
Definition
- 1To rain very heavily.
Etymology
Unknown, but see examples of early use in Citations.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “rain cats and dogs”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-I-N- -C-A-T-S- -A-N-D- -D-O-G-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.