reference book
"reference-book" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“reference book” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A book providing factual information.
Corpus desk
Index EN-reference-book · reference book · English
reference book · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | reference book |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “reference book” in English
Rare enough to double-check
reference book is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for reference book, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is reference book, spelled R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E- -B-O-O-K.
Definition
- 1A book providing factual information.
- 2A book that can be consulted in the library but cannot be borrowed.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how reference book appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The Red Book is the standard reference book for those naming inorganic chemical compounds.
I wanted to take out the encyclopedia, but the librarian said it was a reference book.
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.