rebus
/ˈɹiːbəs/
"rebus" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rebus” is uncommon English (frequency #51,350 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,350
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An arrangement of pictures, symbols, or words representing phrases or words, especially as a word puzzle.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rebus · rebus · English
rebus · rank #51,350 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,350
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH Redgrave
Nearest frequency peer: Redgrave (+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 “rebus”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- rapt
rapt
48,656 corpus weight
- rearguard
rearguard
48,654 corpus weight
- reasonablen…
reasonableness
48,653 corpus weight
- rebus
rebus
48,651 corpus weight
- Redgrave
Redgrave
48,650 corpus weight
- refereed
refereed
48,649 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “rebus” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rebus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹiːbəs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #51,350 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rebus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rebus is uncommon English at frequency #51,350 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹiːbəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for rebus in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French rébus (“rebus (puzzle); ambiguity; word used in an oblique sense; unintelligible remark”), or directly from its probable etymon Latin rēbus, the ablative plural of rēs (“object, stuff, thing; issue, matter, subject, topic”), ultimately from Prot… The correct English form is rebus, spelled R-E-B-U-S.
Definition
- 1An arrangement of pictures, symbols, or words representing phrases or words, especially as a word puzzle.
- 2A pictographic component of a compound character (e.g. sinograph) used to hint at the pronunciation of the compound.
- 3An arrangement of pictures on a coat of arms which suggests the name of the person to whom it belongs.
- 4A type of crossword puzzle in which some squares contain entire words, or symbols representing words, instead of single letters.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rebus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I back him at a Rebus or a Charade against the best Rhymer in the Kingdom—has your Ladyship heard the Epigram he wrote last week on Lady Frizzle's Feather catching Fire—
The prior [Will Bolton] used to come out here to hunt in summer and recreate himself, and his rebus—a barrel or tun shot through with a crossbow bolt—is set into the garden walls.
Etymology
From French rébus (“rebus (puzzle); ambiguity; word used in an oblique sense; unintelligible remark”), or directly from its probable etymon Latin rēbus, the ablative plural of rēs (“object, stuff, thing; issue, matter, subject, topic”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“goods; wealth”). The connection between the English word and its Latin etymon is unclear. further etymology The following possibilities have been suggested, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary are problematic: * According to the French scholar Gilles Ménage (1613–1692) in Les origines de la langue françoise (The Origins of the French Language, 1650), it is taken from the phrase de rebus quae geruntur (“concerning the things that are taking place”) which was used in 16th-century Picardy as the name for satirical writings on contemporary subjects containing picture-riddles that were composed for an annual carnival. However, the term rebus de Picardie is first attested later than the word rébus, and so could simply refer to rebuses popular in Picardy at the time. * Alternatively, it could be from the phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus meaning “not by words but by things”, but this “encounters difficulties in the chronology of the senses in French”.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rebus", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).