sellotape
/ˈsɛləteɪp/
"sellotape" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sellotape” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Adhesive tape.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sellotape · sellotape · English
sellotape · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" 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 | sellotape |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛləteɪp/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sellotape” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sellotape is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsɛləteɪp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Adhesive tape.".
No misspelling variants are generated for sellotape in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From genericized trademark Sellotape, from cello(phane) + tape. The spelling with S- was to avoid an existing trademark on the word Cellophane itself. The correct English form is sellotape, spelled S-E-L-L-O-T-A-P-E.
Definition
- 1Adhesive tape.
Etymology
From genericized trademark Sellotape, from cello(phane) + tape. The spelling with S- was to avoid an existing trademark on the word Cellophane itself.
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.