rickety
/ˈɹɪk.ɪ.ti/
"rickety" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rickety” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #42,867 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #42,867
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of poor construction or upkeep; not safe or secure.
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 | rickety |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈɹɪk.ɪ.ti/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #42,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rickety” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rickety is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹɪk.ɪ.ti/. Corpus data places it at rank #42,867 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for rickety, with forms such as "irckety", "rcikety", and "ricckety". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "Ricky", "rocket", "Rickey", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From dialectal ricket (“unstable, rickety”) + -y, and/or ricket (“to move noisily and in a reckless way”) + -y. Alternatively, and perhaps less likely, from rickets + -y. The correct English form is rickety, spelled R-I-C-K-E-T-Y.
Definition
- 1Of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of poor construction or upkeep; not safe or secure.
- 2Feeble in the joints; tottering.
- 3Affected with or suffering from rickets; rachitic.
Etymology
From dialectal ricket (“unstable, rickety”) + -y, and/or ricket (“to move noisily and in a reckless way”) + -y. Alternatively, and perhaps less likely, from rickets + -y.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: irckety,rcikety,ricckety,ricekty,ricketty,ricketyy,rickeyt,rickkety,ricktey,rikcety,rrickety
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rickety - 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 “rickety”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-I-C-K-E-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹɪk.ɪ.ti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Ricky” - see the side-by-side comparison. rickety vs Ricky
- 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.