sunless
"sunless" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sunless” is uncommon English (frequency #67,869 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,869
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Without the sun or sunshine; shaded; shadowed.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sunless · sunless · English
sunless · rank #67,869 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,869
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH superfan
Nearest frequency peer: superfan (+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 “sunless”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- stylishly
stylishly
32,136 corpus weight
- suey
suey
32,135 corpus weight
- sunless
sunless
32,132 corpus weight
- superfan
superfan
32,131 corpus weight
- Susa
Susa
32,130 corpus weight
- swathe
swathe
32,129 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sunless” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sunless |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #67,869 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sunless” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sunless is uncommon English at frequency #67,869 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for sunless in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From sun + -less. The correct English form is sunless, spelled S-U-N-L-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1Without the sun or sunshine; shaded; shadowed.
- 2Dreary, cheerless.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sunless appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.
When I first saw her, her countenance was sunless, her complexion colourless; she looked like one who had no source of enjoyment, no store of bliss anywhere in the world.
Etymology
From sun + -less.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sunless", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).