ratepayer

noun

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

The verdict

“ratepayer” is uncommon English (frequency #94,169 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#94,169
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Someone who pays for a public utility or service.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ratepayer · ratepayer · English

ratepayer · rank #94,169 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #94,169
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH ravin

Nearest frequency peer: ravin (+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 “ratepayer”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ratepayer
PropertyValue
Headwordratepayer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#94,169
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ratepayer” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).ratepayerfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “ravin” (#94,170), “Rameau” (#94,167), “rakish” (#94,165). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “ratepayer” is #94,169. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ratepayer is uncommon English at frequency #94,169 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Someone who pays for a public utility or service.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ratepayer, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From rate + payer. The correct English form is ratepayer, spelled R-A-T-E-P-A-Y-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Someone who pays for a public utility or service.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how ratepayer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The government is supposed to mediate between ratepayers and the power company.

Etymology

From rate + payer.

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 "ratepayer"?
"ratepayer" is spelled R-A-T-E-P-A-Y-E-R.
What does "ratepayer" mean?
As a noun, "ratepayer" means: Someone who pays for a public utility or service.
What is the origin of the word "ratepayer"?
From rate + payer. 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 "ratepayer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list