tinfoil

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"tinfoil" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tinfoil” is uncommon English (frequency #52,048 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,048
frequency rank, English
27,828
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A thin, pliable sheet of tin or an alloy of tin and lead, used as a protective wrapping.

Key facts for tinfoil
PropertyValue
Headwordtinfoil
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#52,048
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tinfoil” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). tinfoil lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tinfoil is uncommon English at frequency #52,048 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tinfoil, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From tin + foil. The correct English form is tinfoil, spelled T-I-N-F-O-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A thin, pliable sheet of tin or an alloy of tin and lead, used as a protective wrapping.
  2. 2
    Aluminium foil.

Etymology

From tin + foil.

This word in other languages

papel aluminio(Español)papier d'étain(Français)Alufolie(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "tinfoil"?
"tinfoil" is spelled T-I-N-F-O-I-L.
What does "tinfoil" mean?
As a noun, "tinfoil" means: A thin, pliable sheet of tin or an alloy of tin and lead, used as a protective wrapping.
What is the origin of the word "tinfoil"?
From tin + foil. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Using “tinfoil”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is T-I-N-F-O-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list