outdo
/aʊtˈdu/
"outdo" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“outdo” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,825 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #40,825
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To excel; go beyond in performance; surpass.
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 | outdo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /aʊtˈdu/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #40,825 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “outdo” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for outdo is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /aʊtˈdu/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,825 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To excel; go beyond in performance; surpass.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for outdo, with forms such as "otudo", "oudto", and "outddo". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "outer", "outta", "outro", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From out- + do. The correct English form is outdo, spelled O-U-T-D-O.
Definition
- 1To excel; go beyond in performance; surpass.
Etymology
From out- + do.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otudo,oudto,outddo,outod,outtdo,uotdo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of outdo - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “outdo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-U-T-D-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /aʊtˈdu/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “outer” - see the side-by-side comparison. outdo vs outer
- 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.