pus

/pʌs/

//pʌs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"pus" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pus” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #28,336) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#28,336
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pus · pus · English

pus · rank #28,336 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,336
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH racetrack

Nearest frequency peer: racetrack (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “pus”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “pus” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pus vs PV
0% similar
pus vs PW
0% similar
pus vs PX
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pus
PropertyValue
Headwordpus
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pʌs/
Letters3
Frequency rank#28,336
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “pus”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).puslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “racetrack” (#28,337), “populism” (#28,334), “poodle” (#28,333). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pus” is #28,336. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for pus is neighbouring look-alikes ("PV", "PW", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /pʌs/. Frequency #28,336 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Gloss: "A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection.".

pus has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PV", "PW", "PX", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pus (15th c.), a borrowing from Latin pus (“pus”). Widely displaced quitter and atter in this sense. The correct English form is pus, spelled P-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how pus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Pus was seeping out of the wound.

Etymology

From Middle English pus (15th c.), a borrowing from Latin pus (“pus”). Widely displaced quitter and atter in this sense.

This word in other languages

pus(Español)pus(Français)Eiter(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "pus"?
"pus" is spelled P-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /pʌs/.
What does "pus" mean?
As a noun, "pus" means: A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection.
What words are commonly confused with "pus"?
"pus" is commonly confused with "PV", "PW", "PX". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pus" is /pʌs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "pus"?
From Middle English pus (15th c.), a borrowing from Latin pus (“pus”). Widely displaced quitter and atter in this sense. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

PKK#28,331RNC#28,345mee#28,288SSC#28,385

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list