ventriloquism

noun

"ventriloquism" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ventriloquism” is uncommon English (frequency #93,294 among 7,391 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,294
frequency rank, English
7,391
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The art of projecting one's voice without moving the lips so that it appears to come from another source, such as a dummy.

Key facts for ventriloquism
PropertyValue
Headwordventriloquism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Frequency rank#93,294
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ventriloquism” 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). ventriloquism 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

ventriloquism is uncommon English at frequency #93,294 among 7,391 “V” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The art of projecting one's voice without moving the lips so that it appears to come from another source, such as a dummy.".

No misspelling variants are generated for ventriloquism in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: ventriloquy + -ism. The correct English form is ventriloquism, spelled V-E-N-T-R-I-L-O-Q-U-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The art of projecting one's voice without moving the lips so that it appears to come from another source, such as a dummy.

Etymology

ventriloquy + -ism.

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "ventriloquism"?
"ventriloquism" is spelled V-E-N-T-R-I-L-O-Q-U-I-S-M.
What does "ventriloquism" mean?
As a noun, "ventriloquism" means: The art of projecting one's voice without moving the lips so that it appears to come from another source, such as a dummy.
What is the origin of the word "ventriloquism"?
ventriloquy + -ism. 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 “ventriloquism”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is V-E-N-T-R-I-L-O-Q-U-I-S-M - 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list