scrawl
/skɹɔːl/
"scrawl" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scrawl” is uncommon English (frequency #69,429 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #69,429
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Irregular, poor handwriting; especially, such writing that is illegible.
Corpus desk
Index EN-scrawl · scrawl · English
scrawl · rank #69,429 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #69,429
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH scurrilous
Nearest frequency peer: scurrilous (+2 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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “scrawl”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- schnauzer
schnauzer
30,579 corpus weight
- schoolroom
schoolroom
30,578 corpus weight
- scrawl
scrawl
30,572 corpus weight
- scurrilous
scurrilous
30,570 corpus weight
- seamanship
seamanship
30,568 corpus weight
- seedless
seedless
30,567 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “scrawl” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scrawl |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /skɹɔːl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #69,429 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scrawl” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
scrawl is uncommon English at frequency #69,429 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /skɹɔːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
scrawl doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly from Middle English scraulen (“to spread out one's limbs; sprawl”), itself an alteration of spraulen (“to sprawl”) or craulen, crawlen (“to crawl”). Alternatively, from scrall, a contraction of scrabble. The correct English form is scrawl, spelled S-C-R-A-W-L.
Definition
- 1Irregular, poor handwriting; especially, such writing that is illegible.
- 2A hastily or carelessly written note etc.
- 3Writing that lacks literary merit.
- 4A broken branch of a tree.
- 5The young of the dog-crab.
Etymology
Possibly from Middle English scraulen (“to spread out one's limbs; sprawl”), itself an alteration of spraulen (“to sprawl”) or craulen, crawlen (“to crawl”). Alternatively, from scrall, a contraction of scrabble.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "scrawl", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
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- Usage frequency rank #69,429 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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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.