hummus
/ˈhʊməs/
"hummus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hummus” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,952 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,952
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Levantine Arab dip made of chickpea paste with various additions, such as olive oil, fresh garlic, lemon juice, and tahini, often eaten with pitta bread, or as a meze.
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 | hummus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhʊməs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #28,952 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hummus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hummus is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhʊməs/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,952 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A Levantine Arab dip made of chickpea paste with various additions, such as olive oil, fresh garlic, lemon juice, and tahini, often eaten with pitta bread, or as a meze.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for hummus, with forms such as "hhummus", "hmumus", and "hummsu". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "humps", "humour", "hummer", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Arabic حُمُّص (ḥummuṣ). The correct English form is hummus, spelled H-U-M-M-U-S.
Definition
- 1A Levantine Arab dip made of chickpea paste with various additions, such as olive oil, fresh garlic, lemon juice, and tahini, often eaten with pitta bread, or as a meze.
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic حُمُّص (ḥummuṣ).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhummus,hmumus,hummsu,hummuss,humums,humus,uhmmus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hummus - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "hummus"?
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Using “hummus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M-M-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhʊməs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “humps” - see the side-by-side comparison. hummus vs humps
- 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.