sunfish
/ˈsʌnˌfɪʃ/
"sunfish" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sunfish” is uncommon English (frequency #63,287 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,287
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of various small freshwater fishes of the family Centrarchidae, often with iridescent colours and having a laterally compressed body.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sunfish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsʌnˌfɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #63,287 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sunfish” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sunfish is uncommon English at frequency #63,287 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsʌnˌfɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for sunfish in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: * From sun + fish. * (type of fish): Perhaps from the rounded body shape. The correct English form is sunfish, spelled S-U-N-F-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1Any of various small freshwater fishes of the family Centrarchidae, often with iridescent colours and having a laterally compressed body.
- 2Any of various large marine fishes of the family Molidae that have an oval compressed body.
Etymology
* From sun + fish. * (type of fish): Perhaps from the rounded body shape.
This word in other languages
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 “sunfish”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-N-F-I-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsʌnˌfɪʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.