telling off
"telling-off" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“telling off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A reprimand, reproach, or lecture.
Corpus desk
Index EN-telling-off · telling off · English
telling off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | telling off |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “telling off” in English
Rare enough to double-check
telling off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A reprimand, reproach, or lecture.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for telling off, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is telling off, spelled T-E-L-L-I-N-G- -O-F-F.
Definition
- 1A reprimand, reproach, or lecture.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how telling off appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He's going to get quite a telling off if his dad ever finds out about it.
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.