ratlike
"ratlike" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ratlike” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Similar to a rat, or an aspect of a rat—in behavioral terms: cunning, disloyal, or cowardly; in physical terms: simply resembling those of a rat.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ratlike |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ratlike” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ratlike is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Similar to a rat, or an aspect of a rat—in behavioral terms: cunning, disloyal, or cowardly; in physical terms: simply resembling those of a rat.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ratlike, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From rat + -like. The correct English form is ratlike, spelled R-A-T-L-I-K-E.
Definition
- 1Similar to a rat, or an aspect of a rat—in behavioral terms: cunning, disloyal, or cowardly; in physical terms: simply resembling those of a rat.
Etymology
From rat + -like.
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 “ratlike”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-T-L-I-K-E - 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.