scupper
/ˈskʌpə/
"scupper" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scupper” is uncommon English (frequency #96,458 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,458
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A drainage hole on the deck of a ship.
Corpus desk
Index EN-scupper · scupper · English
scupper · rank #96,458 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,458
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH scrutinising
Nearest frequency peer: scrutinising (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “scupper”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- scow
scow
3,547 corpus weight
- scrimp
scrimp
3,546 corpus weight
- scrutinising
scrutinising
3,545 corpus weight
- scupper
scupper
3,543 corpus weight
- seba
seba
3,540 corpus weight
- sele
sele
3,539 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “scupper” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scupper |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈskʌpə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #96,458 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “scupper” in English
Rare enough to double-check
scupper is uncommon English at frequency #96,458 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈskʌpə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
scupper has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English scope (“scoop”) or Dutch schop (“shovel”) + -er; or from Dutch scheppen (“to draw off”). The correct English form is scupper, spelled S-C-U-P-P-E-R.
Definition
- 1A drainage hole on the deck of a ship.
- 2A similar opening in a wall or parapet that allows water to drain from a roof.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how scupper appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I have said that our roof was decidedly Biblical in style; but to make it a dry one, something of a nautical character was added to its architecture, for on either side were scuppers, and it was slightly arched in the centre[.]
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English scope (“scoop”) or Dutch schop (“shovel”) + -er; or from Dutch scheppen (“to draw off”).
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 "scupper", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).