puss

/pʊs/

//pʊs// noun

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

"puss" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“puss” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #27,980) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#27,980
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
2
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cat.

Corpus desk

Index EN-puss · puss · English

puss · rank #27,980 · 2 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #27,980
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 2 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH programmable

Nearest frequency peer: programmable (-2 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 “puss”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “puss” 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).

puss vs put
50% similar
puss vs puts
75% similar
puss vs putt
50% similar

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

Key facts for puss
PropertyValue
Headwordpuss
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pʊs/
Letters4
Frequency rank#27,980
Misspellings tracked2
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “puss”

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).pusslands 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 “programmable” (#27,978), “quintessential” (#27,982), “priory” (#27,976). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “puss” is #27,980. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for puss is neighbouring look-alikes ("put", "puts", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /pʊs/. Frequency #27,980 among 4,417 “P” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 2 likely wrong-spelling variants for puss, including "ppuss" and "psus". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "put", "puts", "putt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from Middle Low German pūse, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)). Akin to West … The correct English form is puss, spelled P-U-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A cat.
  2. 2
    A girl or young woman, or any child.
  3. 3
    A hare.
  4. 4
    The vulva (female genitalia).
  5. 5
    Sex with a woman.
  6. 6
    A coward; a wuss; someone who is unable to stand up for themselves.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Our local theatre is showing Puss in Boots.
  2. Come here, puss! I've got some milk for you.

Etymology

Probably from Middle Low German pūse, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)). Akin to West Frisian poes, Low German Puus, Puuskatte, Danish pus, dialectal Swedish kattepus, Norwegian pus. Found also in several other European, North African and Asian languages; compare Romanian pisică, Persian پیشی (piši), Tamil பூசை (pūcai), Tagalog pusa and Sardinian pisittu.

Synonyms

moggiemoggy

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ppuss
  • psus

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of puss - 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.

ppuss1psus2
Edit distance from "puss"

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 "puss"?
"puss" is spelled P-U-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /pʊs/.
What does "puss" mean?
As a noun, "puss" means: A cat.
What words are commonly confused with "puss"?
"puss" is commonly confused with "put", "puts", "putt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "puss"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "puss" is /pʊs/. 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 "puss"?
Probably from Middle Low German pūse, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)). Aki... 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 "puss", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Nats#27,940Mila#27,932Mays#27,925SUVs#28,043

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list