humus
/ˈhjuːməs/
"humus" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“humus” is an uncommon English word, ranked #60,868 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #60,868
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and from the synthetic activity of microorganisms.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | humus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhjuːməs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #60,868 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “humus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for humus is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhjuːməs/. Corpus data places it at rank #60,868 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and from the synthetic activity of microorganisms.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for humus in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin humus. The correct English form is humus, spelled H-U-M-U-S.
Definition
- 1A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and from the synthetic activity of microorganisms.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin humus.
This word in other languages
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 “humus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhjuːməs/ (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.