homeless

/ˈhoʊmlɪs/

//ˈhoʊmlɪs// adj

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

"homeless" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“homeless” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,607. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,607
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lacking a permanent place of residence.

Corpus desk

Index EN-homeless · homeless · English

homeless · rank #4,607 · 10 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,607
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH HD

Nearest frequency peer: HD (-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 “homeless”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “homeless” 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).

homeless vs hopeless
88% similar

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

Key facts for homeless
PropertyValue
Headwordhomeless
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈhoʊmlɪs/
Letters8
Frequency rank#4,607
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “homeless”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).homelesslands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “HD” (#4,606), “instrument” (#4,608), “guardian” (#4,605). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “homeless” is #4,607. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around homeless (IPA /ˈhoʊmlɪs/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,607 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for homeless, with forms such as "hhomeless", "hmoeless", and "hoemless". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "hopeless", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home + -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic heimilislau… The correct English form is homeless, spelled H-O-M-E-L-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Lacking a permanent place of residence.
  2. 2
    Containing no place that might be called home.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Whenever I pass the park, I see the homeless people sleeping on the benches.
  2. Xinyang special region received 1,200-1,400 mm of rain between June and August 1956: 280,000 homes were destroyed and 3.2 million peasants (out of a total of almost 6 million) were left homeless. In the most affected county in the special region and the province, Huaibin, 60 percent of the total surface area was covered by floods and 230,000 out of 440,00…

Etymology

From Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home + -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic heimilislaus (“homeless”), West Frisian dakleas (“homeless”, literally “having no roof, roofless”).

This word in other languages

vagabundo(Español)itinérant(Français)obdachlos(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhomeless
  • hmoeless
  • hoemless
  • homeelss
  • homeles
  • homelless
  • homelses
  • homleess
  • hommeless
  • ohmeless

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of homeless - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hhomeless1hmoeless2hoemless2homeelss2homeles1homelless1homelses2homleess2
Edit distance from "homeless"

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 "homeless"?
"homeless" is spelled H-O-M-E-L-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhoʊmlɪs/.
What does "homeless" mean?
As an adjective, "homeless" means: Lacking a permanent place of residence.
What words are commonly confused with "homeless"?
"homeless" is commonly confused with "hopeless". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "homeless"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "homeless" is /ˈhoʊmlɪs/. 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 "homeless"?
From Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home + -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic h... 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 "homeless", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

guardian#4,605Missouri#4,614equality#4,597convince#4,592

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

mounted10 variantspeoples10 variantsCameron10 variantsbreathe10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list