know-it-all
/ˈnəʉ.ɪt.oːl/
"know-it-all" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“know-it-all” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Someone who claims to be knowledgeable or an expert in something, obnoxiously dismissing the opinions, advice, suggestions, etc. of others.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | know-it-all |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnəʉ.ɪt.oːl/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “know-it-all” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for know-it-all is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnəʉ.ɪt.oːl/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Someone who claims to be knowledgeable or an expert in something, obnoxiously dismissing the opinions, advice, suggestions, etc. of others.".
know-it-all has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From know + it + all. The correct English form is know-it-all, spelled K-N-O-W---I-T---A-L-L.
Definition
- 1Someone who claims to be knowledgeable or an expert in something, obnoxiously dismissing the opinions, advice, suggestions, etc. of others.
Etymology
From know + it + all.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “know-it-all”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-N-O-W---I-T---A-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnəʉ.ɪt.oːl/ (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.