human
/ˈhjuː.mən/
"human" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“human” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #444 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #444
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or belonging to the species Homo sapiens or its closest relatives.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | human |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhjuː.mən/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #444 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “human” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for human is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhjuː.mən/. Corpus data places it at rank #444 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for human, with forms such as "hhuman", "hmuan", and "huamn". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hun", "hymn", "hump", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Latin hūmānus Old French umain Middle French humainbor. Middle English humayne English human From Late Middle English humaigne, humayne, humain, from Middle French humain, from Old French humain, umain (“of or belonging to man”, adjective), f… The correct English form is human, spelled H-U-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1Of or belonging to the species Homo sapiens or its closest relatives.
- 2Having the nature or attributes of a human being.
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin hūmānus Old French umain Middle French humainbor. Middle English humayne English human From Late Middle English humaigne, humayne, humain, from Middle French humain, from Old French humain, umain (“of or belonging to man”, adjective), from Latin hūmānus m (“of man, human”, adjective); see there for further details. Spelling human has been predominant since the early 18th century. Compare, and possibly related to man.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhuman,hmuan,huamn,humann,humman,humna,uhman
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of human - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “human”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhjuː.mən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hun” - see the side-by-side comparison. human vs hun
- 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.