ravel
/ˈɹævəl/
"ravel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ravel” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,333 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #41,333
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle.
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 | ravel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɹævəl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #41,333 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ravel” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ravel is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹævəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,333 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ravel, with forms such as "arvel", "raevl", and "ravell". 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, "rel", "reel", "Ravi", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary … The correct English form is ravel, spelled R-A-V-E-L.
Definition
- 1To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle.
- 2Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit.
- 3To unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to fray, to unpick, to unravel; also, to pull out (a string of yarn, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel.
- 4To confuse or perplex (someone or something).
- 5Often followed by out: to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.); to clarify, to disentangle.
- 6To destroy or ruin (something), like unravelling fabric.
- 7In the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector.
- 8Often followed by out: of a reel of thread or skein of yarn; or a thread on a reel or a string of yarn in a skein, etc.: to become untwisted or unwound.
- 9Often followed by out: of clothing, fabric, etc.: to become unwoven; to fray, to unravel.
- 10To become entangled or snarled.
Etymology
The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as “very uncertain”, and instead regards the noun as having derived from the verb (compare Dutch rafel, raffel (“frayed thread”)). Ravel is a contranym having both the senses of tangling (verb senses 1.1, 1.2, 1.4.1, and 2.3; noun sense 1) and untangling (verb senses 1.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 2.1, and 2.2; noun sense 2). It would appear that the tangling senses predate the untangling ones (as in Dutch), but this is uncertain because the first published uses of both senses of the words occur around the same time.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: arvel,raevl,ravell,ravle,ravvel,rravel,rvael
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ravel - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “ravel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-V-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹævəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “rel” - see the side-by-side comparison. ravel vs rel
- 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.