hummingbird
/ˈhʌmɪŋˌbɝd/
"hummingbird" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hummingbird” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #30,452 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #30,452
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of various small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hummingbird |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhʌmɪŋˌbɝd/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #30,452 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hummingbird” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hummingbird is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhʌmɪŋˌbɝd/. Corpus data places it at rank #30,452 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Any of various small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for hummingbird, with forms such as "hhummingbird", "hmumingbird", and "humimngbird". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From humming (noun) + bird, in reference to the humming sound made by the rapidly moving wings. The correct English form is hummingbird, spelled H-U-M-M-I-N-G-B-I-R-D.
Definition
- 1Any of various small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.
Etymology
From humming (noun) + bird, in reference to the humming sound made by the rapidly moving wings.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhummingbird,hmumingbird,humimngbird,humingbird,hummignbird,humminbgird,hummingbbird,hummingbidr,hummingbirdd,hummingbirrd,hummingbrid,humminggbird,hummingibrd,humminngbird,hummnigbird,uhmmingbird
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hummingbird - 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.
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 "hummingbird"?
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Using “hummingbird”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M-M-I-N-G-B-I-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhʌmɪŋˌbɝd/ (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.