selectman
"selectman" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“selectman” is uncommon English (frequency #79,957 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,957
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of a board of municipal officers elected to manage some New England towns.
Corpus desk
Index EN-selectman · selectman · English
selectman · rank #79,957 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #79,957
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH seismological
Nearest frequency peer: seismological (-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 “selectman”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- seamed
seamed
20,048 corpus weight
- sebum
sebum
20,047 corpus weight
- seismologic…
seismological
20,045 corpus weight
- selectman
selectman
20,044 corpus weight
- sendoff
sendoff
20,043 corpus weight
- Sengupta
Sengupta
20,042 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “selectman” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | selectman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #79,957 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “selectman” in English
Rare enough to double-check
selectman is uncommon English at frequency #79,957 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of a board of municipal officers elected to manage some New England towns.".
Zero misspellings are on record for selectman in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From select + -man. The correct English form is selectman, spelled S-E-L-E-C-T-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1Any of a board of municipal officers elected to manage some New England towns.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how selectman appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: selectperson, selectwoman, councilperson, councilman, councilwoman
But what villager could have foreseen that their neighbor was to be commissioner for the government of Massachusetts, church elder, town selectman, judge of small causes, and town deputy to the Massachusetts legislature? The people of Weyhill [in Hampshire, England], who had seen Peter Noyes serve as juryman in their manorial court and churchwarden of the…
Etymology
From select + -man.
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
How do you spell "selectman"?
What does "selectman" mean?
What is the origin of the word "selectman"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "selectman", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).