humility

/hjuːˈmɪlɪti/

//hjuːˈmɪlɪti// noun

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

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

The verdict

“humility” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,173. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,173
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.

Corpus desk

Index EN-humility · humility · English

humility · rank #13,173 · 12 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,173
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH hum

Nearest frequency peer: hum (-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 “humility”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “humility” 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).

humility vs humanity
75% similar
humility vs humidity
88% similar
humility vs humiliate
78% similar

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

Key facts for humility
PropertyValue
Headwordhumility
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hjuːˈmɪlɪti/
Letters8
Frequency rank#13,173
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “humility”

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).humilitylands 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 “hum” (#13,172), “impeachment” (#13,174), “inherently” (#13,175). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “humility” is #13,173. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around humility (IPA /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,173 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for humility, with forms such as "hhumility", "hmuility", and "huimlity". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "humanity", "humidity", "humiliate", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English humilite, from Old French (h)umilité, from Latin humilitas (“lowness, meanness, baseness, in Late Latin humility”), from humilis (“low, lowly, humble, earth”). Equivalent to humble + -ity, with /mb/ reduced to /m/ (compare plumbing). Dis… The correct English form is humility, spelled H-U-M-I-L-I-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. She had established a character for humility, discretion, noiselessness and religion which Mrs. Piper greatly regretted losing.

Etymology

From Middle English humilite, from Old French (h)umilité, from Latin humilitas (“lowness, meanness, baseness, in Late Latin humility”), from humilis (“low, lowly, humble, earth”). Equivalent to humble + -ity, with /mb/ reduced to /m/ (compare plumbing). Displaced native Old English ēaþmōdnes. Doublet of omertà.

Synonyms

egolessnesshumilitudemeeknessmodestyself-effacement

Antonyms

pride

This word in other languages

humildad(Español)humilité(Français)Bescheidenheit(Deutsch)humildade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhumility
  • hmuility
  • huimlity
  • humiilty
  • humilitty
  • humilityy
  • humiliyt
  • humillity
  • humiltiy
  • humliity
  • hummility
  • uhmility

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of humility - 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.

hhumility1hmuility2huimlity2humiilty2humilitty1humilityy1humiliyt2humillity1
Edit distance from "humility"

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 "humility"?
"humility" is spelled H-U-M-I-L-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/.
What does "humility" mean?
As a noun, "humility" means: The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.
What words are commonly confused with "humility"?
"humility" is commonly confused with "humanity", "humidity", "humiliate". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "humility"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "humility" is /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/. 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 "humility"?
From Middle English humilite, from Old French (h)umilité, from Latin humilitas (“lowness, meanness, baseness, in Late Latin humility”), from humilis (“low, lowly, humble, earth”). Equivalent to humble + -ity, with /mb/ reduced to /m/ (compare plum... 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 "humility", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

happiest#13,169inventor#13,177gracious#13,164lobbying#13,188

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

organism12 variantsdynamite12 variantspancakes12 variantsDamascus12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list