tenable
/ˈtɛn.ə.bəl/
"tenable" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tenable” is uncommon English (frequency #59,755 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,755
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - capable of being maintained or justified; well-founded
Corpus desk
Index EN-tenable · tenable · English
tenable · rank #59,755 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,755
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH Tenzin
Nearest frequency peer: Tenzin (+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 “tenable”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- taran
taran
40,251 corpus weight
- tenable
tenable
40,246 corpus weight
- Tenzin
Tenzin
40,245 corpus weight
- Thacker
Thacker
40,243 corpus weight
- thalidomide
thalidomide
40,242 corpus weight
- Thurgood
Thurgood
40,240 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tenable” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tenable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈtɛn.ə.bəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #59,755 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tenable” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tenable is uncommon English at frequency #59,755 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈtɛn.ə.bəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
tenable has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the French tenable, from tenir (“to hold”); compare tenible. The correct English form is tenable, spelled T-E-N-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1capable of being maintained or justified; well-founded
- 2Capable of being defended against assault or attack; defensible
- 3Fit for habitation, similar, or related use.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tenable appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Back in the 1800s, many did not consider Darwin's theory of evolution to be tenable at all.
Modern war rests on industry, and its evolution has all but abolished the "non-combatant," emptied the old idea of "innocent" trade of meaning, and made even of neutrality a barely tenable status.
Etymology
From the French tenable, from tenir (“to hold”); compare tenible.
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 "tenable", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).