bottom

/ˈbɒ.təm/

//ˈbɒ.təm// noun

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

"bottom" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bottom” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,521. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,521
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The lowest part of anything.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bottom · bottom · English

bottom · rank #1,521 · 7 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,521
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH benefits

Nearest frequency peer: benefits (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “bottom”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “bottom” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bottom vs button
67% similar
bottom vs bottoms
86% similar
bottom vs bottomed
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bottom
PropertyValue
Headwordbottom
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈbɒ.təm/
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,521
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “bottom”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).bottomlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “benefits” (#1,520), “cities” (#1,522), “begin” (#1,519). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bottom” is #1,521. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around bottom (IPA /ˈbɒ.təm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,521 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 25 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for bottom, with forms such as "bbottom", "botom", and "bototm". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "button", "bottoms", "bottomed", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”).… The correct English form is bottom, spelled B-O-T-T-O-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The lowest part of anything.
  2. 2
    The lowest part of anything.
  3. 3
    The lowest part of anything.
  4. 4
    The lowest part of anything.
  5. 5
    The lowest part of anything.
  6. 6
    The lowest part of anything.
  7. 7
    The lowest part of anything.
  8. 8
    The lowest part of anything.
  9. 9
    The remotest or innermost part of something.
  10. 10
    The fundamental part; a basic aspect.
  11. 11
    Low-lying land; a valley or hollow.
  12. 12
    Low-lying land near a river with alluvial soil.
  13. 13
    The buttocks or anus.
  14. 14
    The bed of a body of water.
  15. 15
    An abyss.
  16. 16
    A cargo vessel, a ship.
  17. 17
    Certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
  18. 18
    A person who has a receptive role or has a preference for that role during intercourse.
  19. 19
    A person who has a receptive role or has a preference for that role during intercourse.
  20. 20
    Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.
  21. 21
    Power of endurance.
  22. 22
    A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
  23. 23
    A trundle or spindle of thread.
  24. 24
    Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
  25. 25
    Ellipsis of bottom quark.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. barrels with the bottoms knocked out
  2. a great ship’s kettle of iron, with the bottom knocked out

Etymology

PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”). Cognates Cognate with Yola bothom, bottom (“bottom”), Saterland Frisian Boudem (“floor; ground”), West Frisian boaiem (“floor; ground”), Dutch bodem, boom, boôm (“bottom; ground, soil”), German Boden (“floor; ground; soil”), Limburgish baom (“bottom; ground, soil”), Luxembourgish Buedem (“bottom; earth, soil”), Vilamovian bödum (“bottom; ground”), Danish bund (“bottom”), Elfdalian buottn (“bottom”), Faroese botnur (“bottom”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk botn (“bottom”), Norwegian Bokmål botn, bunn (“bottom”), Swedish botten (“bottom”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic bonn (“base, bottom; sole (of foot)”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar; the bottom of the sea; butt of a tree”), Albanian buzë (“rocky chasm”), Armenian անդունդ (andund), անդունդք (andundkʻ, “abyss, chasm”), Northern Kurdish bin (“bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”). The sense “posterior of a person” is first attested in 1794; the verb “to reach the bottom of” is first attested in 1808. bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is from 1882.

This word in other languages

fondo(Español)fond(Français)Boden(Deutsch)fundo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbottom
  • botom
  • bototm
  • bottmo
  • bottomm
  • btotom
  • obttom

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bottom - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bbottom1botom1bototm2bottmo2bottomm1btotom2obttom2
Edit distance from "bottom"

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 "bottom"?
"bottom" is spelled B-O-T-T-O-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈbɒ.təm/.
What does "bottom" mean?
As a noun, "bottom" means: The lowest part of anything.
What words are commonly confused with "bottom"?
"bottom" is commonly confused with "button", "bottoms", "bottomed". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bottom"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bottom" is /ˈbɒ.təm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bottom"?
PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (... 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 "bottom", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cities#1,522demand#1,523engine#1,524famous#1,526

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

who's7 variantsnotes7 variantsserve7 variantsroyal7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list