tease out

verb

"tease-out" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tease out” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To unravel; (figuratively, by extension) to determine; solve.

Corpus desk

Index EN-tease-out · tease out · English

tease out · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "T" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for tease out
PropertyValue
Headwordtease out
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tease out” sits in English frequency

tease outranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tease out is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tease out, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is tease out, spelled T-E-A-S-E- -O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To unravel; (figuratively, by extension) to determine; solve.
  2. 2
    To separate as if by unraveling.
  3. 3
    To work out, procure, or extract, usually by processes involving subterfuge, diligence, manipulation, or coaxing.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. 2017, Jennifer S. Holland, For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival., National Geographic (March 2017)http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/03/macaques-monkeys-indonesia-endangered-pet-trade/ The researchers are teasing out fine details of the yaki’s private life.
  2. CLA is actually an umbrella term for several different types of trans fats similar in chemical structure. More research is necessary to tease out which type of CLA is actually the most beneficial (but more on that later).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tease out"?
"tease out" is spelled T-E-A-S-E- -O-U-T.
What does "tease out" mean?
As a verb, "tease out" means: To unravel; (figuratively, by extension) to determine; solve.
What language does "tease out" come from?
"tease out" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

What to do next

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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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list