spindle
/ˈspɪndəl/
"spindle" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spindle” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,590 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #25,590
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertica...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spindle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈspɪndəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #25,590 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spindle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for spindle is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈspɪndəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,590 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for spindle, with forms such as "psindle", "sipndle", and "spidnle". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "spine", "swindle", "sprinkle", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English spyndel, spindle, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu (“spindle”), equivalent to spin + -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell (“spi… The correct English form is spindle, spelled S-P-I-N-D-L-E.
Definition
- 1A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
- 2A rod which turns, or on which something turns.
- 3A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
- 4The axle of a bottom bracket.
- 5Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
- 6An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
- 7The fusee of a watch.
- 8Any long and slender stalk resembling a spindle from Euonymus.
- 9A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
- 10A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
- 11Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb.
- 12Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
- 13A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis.
- 14A dragonfly.
- 15A plastic container for packaging optical discs such as CDs or DVDs, having a central column that passes through the central holes in the discs and keeps them in a stack.
- 16A muscle spindle.
- 17A sleep spindle.
Etymology
From Middle English spyndel, spindle, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu (“spindle”), equivalent to spin + -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell (“spindle”), Dutch spindel ("spindle"; < Middle Dutch spille, spinle), German Spindel (“spindle”), Danish spindel (“spindle”), Swedish spindel (“spindle”). The dragonfly sense (noun sense 14) is a calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle); this word was introduced by New Sweden settlers.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: psindle,sipndle,spidnle,spinddle,spindel,spindlle,spinlde,spinndle,spnidle,sppindle,sspindle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spindle - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “spindle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-I-N-D-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈspɪndəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “spine” - see the side-by-side comparison. spindle vs spine
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.