Mother's Day

noun

"mother-s-day" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A day in honor of one's mother on the second Sunday in May in the United States and Canada.

Key facts for Mother's Day
PropertyValue
HeadwordMother's Day
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Mother's Day” sits in English frequency

Mother's Day 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

Mother's Day is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Mother's Day, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Anna Jarvis's campaign in the early 20th century, which insisted on using a singular spelling in order to associate the day with observants' particular mothers. The correct English form is Mother's Day, spelled M-O-T-H-E-R-'-S- -D-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A day in honor of one's mother on the second Sunday in May in the United States and Canada.
  2. 2
    Synonym of Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, a moveable feast three weeks before Easter, used as a day in honor of mothers in some Commonwealth countries.
  3. 3
    Other similar holidays honoring mothers or one's mother in various countries.

Etymology

From Anna Jarvis's campaign in the early 20th century, which insisted on using a singular spelling in order to associate the day with observants' particular mothers.

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 "Mother's Day"?
"Mother's Day" is spelled M-O-T-H-E-R-'-S- -D-A-Y.
What does "Mother's Day" mean?
As a noun, "Mother's Day" means: A day in honor of one's mother on the second Sunday in May in the United States and Canada.
What is the origin of the word "Mother's Day"?
From Anna Jarvis's campaign in the early 20th century, which insisted on using a singular spelling in order to associate the day with observants' particular mothers. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 “Mother's Day”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is M-O-T-H-E-R-'-S- -D-A-Y - 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