yawl
/jɔːl/
"yawl" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“yawl” is an uncommon English word, ranked #91,161 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #91,161
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small ship's boat, usually rowed by four or six oars.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yawl |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /jɔːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #91,161 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “yawl” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for yawl is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /jɔːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #91,161 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for yawl, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Apparently from Low German and Middle Low German jolle, or Dutch jol, possibly ultimately from a Proto-Germanic derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlos (“tube”), see also Lithuanian aulas, Norwegian aul, Hittite [script needed] (auli-, “tube-shaped organ… The correct English form is yawl, spelled Y-A-W-L.
Definition
- 1A small ship's boat, usually rowed by four or six oars.
- 2A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen stepped abaft the rudder post.
Etymology
Apparently from Low German and Middle Low German jolle, or Dutch jol, possibly ultimately from a Proto-Germanic derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlos (“tube”), see also Lithuanian aulas, Norwegian aul, Hittite [script needed] (auli-, “tube-shaped organ in the neck”), Albanian hollë, Latin alvus.
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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Using “yawl”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Y-A-W-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /jɔːl/ (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.