spall
/spɔːl/
"spall" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spall” is uncommon English (frequency #74,529 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,529
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.
Corpus desk
Index EN-spall · spall · English
spall · rank #74,529 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,529
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sori
Nearest frequency peer: sori (-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 “spall”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- softy
softy
25,478 corpus weight
- solarium
solarium
25,476 corpus weight
- sonogram
sonogram
25,474 corpus weight
- sori
sori
25,473 corpus weight
- spall
spall
25,472 corpus weight
- staycation
staycation
25,465 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “spall” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spall |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /spɔːl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #74,529 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “spall” in English
Rare enough to double-check
spall is uncommon English at frequency #74,529 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /spɔːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for spall in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English spalle (“a chip”) (first documented in 1440), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Middle English verb spald (“to split”) (c.1400), from Middle Low German spalden, cognate with Old High German spaltan (“to split”). The correct English form is spall, spelled S-P-A-L-L.
Definition
- 1A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.
- 2A process of weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how spall appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
My father knew Bert Le Feuvre, the foreman of Griffith's yard, and there was a little heap of spawls waiting ready every night in summer after school for me to crack.
The failure of this bearing involved spall under high load.
Etymology
From Middle English spalle (“a chip”) (first documented in 1440), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Middle English verb spald (“to split”) (c.1400), from Middle Low German spalden, cognate with Old High German spaltan (“to split”).
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 "spall", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).