ventriloquism

noun

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

The verdict

“ventriloquism” is uncommon English (frequency #93,294 among 969 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,294
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 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.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ventriloquism · ventriloquism · English

ventriloquism · rank #93,294 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #93,294
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH vertiginous

Nearest frequency peer: vertiginous (+2 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 “ventriloquism”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “ventriloquism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ventriloquism
PropertyValue
Headwordventriloquism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Frequency rank#93,294
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ventriloquism” in English

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

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “vertiginous” (#93,296), “vertu” (#93,297), “vario” (#93,290). Among 969 “V” headwords, “ventriloquism” is #93,294. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ventriloquism is uncommon English at frequency #93,294 among 969 “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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ventriloquism", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list