multitude
/ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/
"multitude" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“multitude” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,198 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,198
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
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 | multitude |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #13,198 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “multitude” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for multitude is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,198 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for multitude, with forms such as "mlutitude", "mmultitude", and "mulittude". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "multitudes", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English multitude, multitud, multytude (“(great) amount or number of people or things; multitudinous”), borrowed from Old French multitude (“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”), or directly from its etymon Latin multitūdō (“great amount or … The correct English form is multitude, spelled M-U-L-T-I-T-U-D-E.
Definition
- 1A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
- 2The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
Etymology
From Middle English multitude, multitud, multytude (“(great) amount or number of people or things; multitudinous”), borrowed from Old French multitude (“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”), or directly from its etymon Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”), from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition). The English word is analysable as multi- + -itude.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mlutitude,mmultitude,mulittude,mulltitude,multitdue,multittude,multitudde,multitued,multiutde,multtitude,multtiude,mutlitude,umltitude
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of multitude - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “multitude”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-U-L-T-I-T-U-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “multitudes” - see the side-by-side comparison. multitude vs multitudes
- 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.