put one's foot in one's mouth

verb

"put-one-s-foot-in-one-s-mouth" is a 22-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“put one's foot in one's mouth” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
29
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To misspeak; to say something embarrassing or wrong, or to make a mistake in public, or a social blunder, that is embarrassing or offensive.

Corpus desk

Index EN-put-one-s-foot-in-one-s- · put one's foot in one's mouth · English

put one's foot in one's mouth · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 29 letters
  • VOW-10 10 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for put one's foot in one's mouth
PropertyValue
Headwordput one's foot in one's mouth
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters29
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “put one's foot in one's mouth” in English

put one's foot in one's mouthfalls 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

put one's foot in one's mouth is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To misspeak; to say something embarrassing or wrong, or to make a mistake in public, or a social blunder, that is embarrassing or offensive.".

put one's foot in one's mouth has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Attested from 1887; from earlier put one's foot in it. The correct English form is put one's foot in one's mouth, spelled P-U-T- -O-N-E-'-S- -F-O-O-T- -I-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -M-O-U-T-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    To misspeak; to say something embarrassing or wrong, or to make a mistake in public, or a social blunder, that is embarrassing or offensive.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how put one's foot in one's mouth appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I really put my foot in my mouth during the interview.

Etymology

Attested from 1887; from earlier put one's foot in it.

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 "put one's foot in one's mouth"?
"put one's foot in one's mouth" is spelled P-U-T- -O-N-E-'-S- -F-O-O-T- -I-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -M-O-U-T-H.
What does "put one's foot in one's mouth" mean?
As a verb, "put one's foot in one's mouth" means: To misspeak; to say something embarrassing or wrong, or to make a mistake in public, or a social blunder, that is embarrassing or offensive.
What is the origin of the word "put one's foot in one's mouth"?
Attested from 1887; from earlier put one's foot in it. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list