signalman
/ˈsɪɡnəl.mən/
"signalman" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“signalman” is uncommon English (frequency #92,076 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,076
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Somebody employed to operate the signals and points of a railway.
Corpus desk
Index EN-signalman · signalman · English
signalman · rank #92,076 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #92,076
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH silvan
Nearest frequency peer: silvan (+3 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 “signalman”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- SHTF
SHTF
7,933 corpus weight
- shucking
shucking
7,932 corpus weight
- shug
shug
7,931 corpus weight
- sickeningly
sickeningly
7,929 corpus weight
- signalman
signalman
7,925 corpus weight
- silvan
silvan
7,922 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “signalman” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | signalman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪɡnəl.mən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #92,076 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “signalman” in English
Rare enough to double-check
signalman is uncommon English at frequency #92,076 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsɪɡnəl.mən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for signalman, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From signal + -man. The correct English form is signalman, spelled S-I-G-N-A-L-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1Somebody employed to operate the signals and points of a railway.
- 2A member of the armed forces responsible for signalling.
- 3Somebody employed to direct rigging or crane operations by providing a different point of view.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how signalman appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
With extra traffic, numerous boat trains to and from Southampton Docks, and working of empty stock, his job, like that of most signalmen, is no sinecure.
The length ganger saw the train passing with the van derailed and promptly telephoned the Sandbach signalman, who restored his signals to danger, but not in time to stop the train before the final derailment occurred.
Etymology
From signal + -man.
Synonyms
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 "signalman", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).