gumption
/ˈɡʌmpʃən/
"gumption" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gumption” is an uncommon English word, ranked #60,137 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #60,137
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gumption |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡʌmpʃən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #60,137 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gumption” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for gumption is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡʌmpʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #60,137 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for gumption, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō. English cognates … The correct English form is gumption, spelled G-U-M-P-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.
- 2Boldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative.
- 3Energy of body and mind, enthusiasm.
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō. English cognates include gaum (“to comprehend, understand”) and goam (“to recognize, see”).
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 “gumption”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-U-M-P-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡʌmpʃən/ (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.