unsavoury
"unsavoury" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“unsavoury” is uncommon English (frequency #68,727 among 23,789 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,727
- frequency rank, English
- 23,789
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative spelling of unsavory.
Corpus desk
Index EN-unsavoury · unsavoury · English
unsavoury · rank #68,727 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #68,727
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 23,789
- PHOTO-FINISH unrepresentat…
Nearest frequency peer: unrepresentative (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “unsavoury”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- unfriend
unfriend
31,278 corpus weight
- unpredictab…
unpredictably
31,276 corpus weight
- unrepresent…
unrepresentative
31,275 corpus weight
- unsavoury
unsavoury
31,274 corpus weight
- untruthful
untruthful
31,273 corpus weight
- USCIS
USCIS
31,270 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “unsavoury” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | unsavoury |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #68,727 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “unsavoury” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
unsavoury is uncommon English at frequency #68,727 among 23,789 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of unsavory.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for unsavoury, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + savoury. The correct English form is unsavoury, spelled U-N-S-A-V-O-U-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Alternative spelling of unsavory.
Etymology
From un- + savoury.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "unsavoury", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency 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.