spline

/splaɪn/

//splaɪn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"spline" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“spline” is uncommon English (frequency #55,761 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,761
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A long, thin piece of metal or wood.

Corpus desk

Index EN-spline · spline · English

spline · rank #55,761 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,761
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH splayed

Nearest frequency peer: splayed (-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 “spline”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “spline” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for spline
PropertyValue
Headwordspline
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/splaɪn/
Letters6
Frequency rank#55,761
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “spline” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).splinefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “splayed” (#55,760), “sportscaster” (#55,762), “springy” (#55,764). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “spline” is #55,761. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

spline is uncommon English at frequency #55,761 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /splaɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for spline, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Mid-1700s East Anglian dialect. Origin uncertain but perhaps from Old Danish splind or North Frisian splinj and ultimately related to the root of splinter. The correct English form is spline, spelled S-P-L-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A long, thin piece of metal or wood.
  2. 2
    A strip of wood or other material inserted into grooves in each of two pieces of wood to provide additional surface for gluing.
  3. 3
    A flexible strip of metal or other material, that may be bent into a curve and used in a similar manner to a ruler to draw smooth curves between points.
  4. 4
    Any of a number of smooth curves used to join points.
  5. 5
    A ridge or tooth on a drive shaft that meshes with a corresponding groove in a mating piece and transfers torque to it, maintaining the angular correspondence between the pieces; either the ridge or the groove, as part of a set of both (splines); the whole set of ridges and grooves.
  6. 6
    A rectangular piece that fits grooves like key seats in a hub and a shaft, so that while the one may slide endwise on the other, both must revolve together.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how spline appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. However, it should be possible to give more sophisticated spherical spline curves based on the de Castaljau method that are computed using multiple slerps between pairs of points and which work well for arbitrary knot positions (indeed, knot insertion methods for spline curves should suffice for this, cf Farin [1993])
  2. These conditions provide a framework which encompasses some notable approximation kernels including splines, so-called cardinal functions, and many radial basis functions such as the Gaussians and general multiquadrics.

Etymology

Mid-1700s East Anglian dialect. Origin uncertain but perhaps from Old Danish splind or North Frisian splinj and ultimately related to the root of splinter.

This word in other languages

cresta(Español)clavette(Français)chaveta(Português)

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

How do you spell "spline"?
"spline" is spelled S-P-L-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /splaɪn/.
What does "spline" mean?
As a noun, "spline" means: A long, thin piece of metal or wood.
How do you pronounce "spline"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spline" is /splaɪn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "spline"?
Mid-1700s East Anglian dialect. Origin uncertain but perhaps from Old Danish splind or North Frisian splinj and ultimately related to the root of splinter. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "spline", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

spritz#55,765soiree#55,750TikTok#55,804Ryland#55,710

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list