because of

prep

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"because-of" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“because of” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a preposition. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - On account of; due to, for the purpose of.

Corpus desk

Index EN-because-of · because of · English

because of · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for because of
PropertyValue
Headwordbecause of
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPreposition
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “because of” in English

because ofranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

because of is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as apreposition. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "On account of; due to, for the purpose of.".

because of doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is because of, spelled B-E-C-A-U-S-E- -O-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    On account of; due to, for the purpose of.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how because of appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Because of being tired, she left earlier than the rest.

Synonyms

on account ofalong ofbecausebecause ofas a consequence ofout of consideration forby dint ofdue toon the force ofon the grounds ofin the interest ofonowing tofor the purpose ofby reason ofin respect ofas a result offor sake offor the sake ofthanks toby virtue ofin virtue of

Antonyms

despite

This word in other languages

à cause de(Français)wegen(Deutsch)por causa de(Português)

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

How do you spell "because of"?
"because of" is spelled B-E-C-A-U-S-E- -O-F.
What does "because of" mean?
As a preposition, "because of" means: On account of; due to, for the purpose of.
What language does "because of" come from?
"because of" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list