shipmate
/ˈʃɪpˌmeɪt/
"shipmate" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shipmate” is uncommon English (frequency #88,849 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,849
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A fellow sailor serving on the same ship as another.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shipmate · shipmate · English
shipmate · rank #88,849 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #88,849
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH shorthair
Nearest frequency peer: shorthair (+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 “shipmate”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- sharer
sharer
11,158 corpus weight
- sheerness
sheerness
11,157 corpus weight
- Sherburne
Sherburne
11,156 corpus weight
- Sherrington
Sherrington
11,155 corpus weight
- shipmate
shipmate
11,152 corpus weight
- shorthair
shorthair
11,151 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “shipmate” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shipmate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃɪpˌmeɪt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #88,849 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shipmate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shipmate is uncommon English at frequency #88,849 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈʃɪpˌmeɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
shipmate doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From ship + -mate. The correct English form is shipmate, spelled S-H-I-P-M-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1A fellow sailor serving on the same ship as another.
- 2Any sailor (when used as a form of address by a sailor).
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how shipmate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the 'Admiral Benbow' inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, since I lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand.
Etymology
From ship + -mate.
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 "shipmate", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).