gut feeling

noun

"gut-feeling" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An instinct or intuition; an immediate or basic feeling or reaction without a logical rationale.

Key facts for gut feeling
PropertyValue
Headwordgut feeling
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “gut feeling” sits in English frequency

gut feeling falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

gut feeling is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An instinct or intuition; an immediate or basic feeling or reaction without a logical rationale.".

Zero misspellings are on record for gut feeling in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is gut feeling, spelled G-U-T- -F-E-E-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    An instinct or intuition; an immediate or basic feeling or reaction without a logical rationale.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "gut feeling"?
"gut feeling" is spelled G-U-T- -F-E-E-L-I-N-G.
What does "gut feeling" mean?
As a noun, "gut feeling" means: An instinct or intuition; an immediate or basic feeling or reaction without a logical rationale.
What language does "gut feeling" come from?
"gut feeling" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “gut feeling”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is G-U-T- -F-E-E-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list