wrack
/ɹæk/
"wrack" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wrack” is uncommon English (frequency #74,662 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,662
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Vengeance; revenge; persecution; punishment; consequence; trouble.
Corpus desk
Index EN-wrack · wrack · English
wrack · rank #74,662 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,662
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH wouldst
Nearest frequency peer: wouldst (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “wrack”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- wisher
wisher
25,343 corpus weight
- wouldst
wouldst
25,340 corpus weight
- wrack
wrack
25,339 corpus weight
- wrathful
wrathful
25,338 corpus weight
- wurst
wurst
25,336 corpus weight
- WX
WX
25,335 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “wrack” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wrack |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹæk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #74,662 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “wrack” in English
Rare enough to double-check
wrack is uncommon English at frequency #74,662 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɹæk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
wrack has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wrake, wrache, wreche, from a merger of Old English wracu, wræc (“misery, suffering”) and Old English wrǣċ (“vengeance, revenge”). See also wrake. The correct English form is wrack, spelled W-R-A-C-K.
Definition
- 1Vengeance; revenge; persecution; punishment; consequence; trouble.
- 2Ruin; destruction.
- 3The remains of something; a wreck.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how wrack appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Therefore, in sign her treasure suffered wrack, Since Hero's time hath half the world been black.
Lytle was already moaning in shame, fallen back in bed with his hand across his face like he'd just washed up somewhere, a piece of wrack.
Etymology
From Middle English wrake, wrache, wreche, from a merger of Old English wracu, wræc (“misery, suffering”) and Old English wrǣċ (“vengeance, revenge”). See also wrake.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "wrack", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).