moment of silence

noun

"moment-of-silence" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“moment of silence” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period of silence for quiet meditation, prayer or reflection.

Key facts for moment of silence
PropertyValue
Headwordmoment of silence
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “moment of silence” sits in English frequency

moment of silence falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

moment of silence is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

moment of silence has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is moment of silence, spelled M-O-M-E-N-T- -O-F- -S-I-L-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A period of silence for quiet meditation, prayer or reflection.
  2. 2
    A period of silence conducted to honor or provide a gesture of respect to a recently deceased person, as part of the mourning process. May also be conducted following a tragic event or on the anniversary thereof.

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

How do you spell "moment of silence"?
"moment of silence" is spelled M-O-M-E-N-T- -O-F- -S-I-L-E-N-C-E.
What does "moment of silence" mean?
As a noun, "moment of silence" means: A period of silence for quiet meditation, prayer or reflection.
What language does "moment of silence" come from?
"moment of silence" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “moment of silence”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-O-M-E-N-T- -O-F- -S-I-L-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list