wooden spoon
/ˈwʊdən spuːn/
"wooden-spoon" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wooden spoon” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A spoon made from wood, commonly used in food preparation.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wooden spoon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwʊdən spuːn/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wooden spoon” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
wooden spoon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwʊdən spuːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for wooden spoon, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. 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.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is wooden spoon, spelled W-O-O-D-E-N- -S-P-O-O-N.
Definition
- 1A spoon made from wood, commonly used in food preparation.
- 2An ironic prize for finishing last in a competition.
- 3The last junior optime who takes a university degree.
- 4The lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “wooden spoon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-O-O-D-E-N- -S-P-O-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwʊdən spuːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.