putt

/pʌt/

//pʌt// noun

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

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

The verdict

“putt” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #23,957) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#23,957
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of tapping a golf ball lightly on a putting green.

Corpus desk

Index EN-putt · putt · English

putt · rank #23,957 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,957
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH provost

Nearest frequency peer: provost (-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 “putt”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “putt” 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).

putt vs putty
80% similar
putt vs putter
67% similar
putt vs pt
50% similar

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

Key facts for putt
PropertyValue
Headwordputt
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pʌt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#23,957
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “putt”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).puttlands 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 “provost” (#23,956), “quadruple” (#23,958), “provenance” (#23,955). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “putt” is #23,957. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for putt is neighbouring look-alikes ("putty", "putter", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /pʌt/. Frequency #23,957 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Gloss: "The act of tapping a golf ball lightly on a putting green.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for putt, with forms such as "pputt", "ptut", and "uptt". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "putty", "putter", "pt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Scots putt (“to put”). Compare Middle Dutch putten (“to dig a pit”). The Old English putian (“to push; thrust; put; place”) derivation is commonly assumed, although no longer valid. In Dutch, the word is instanced in a description of golf in a… The correct English form is putt, spelled P-U-T-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of tapping a golf ball lightly on a putting green.

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots putt (“to put”). Compare Middle Dutch putten (“to dig a pit”). The Old English putian (“to push; thrust; put; place”) derivation is commonly assumed, although no longer valid. In Dutch, the word is instanced in a description of golf in an early seventeenth-century edition of Pieter van Afferden's Tyrocinium linguae latinae. All derive from Proto-Germanic *putōną.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pputt
  • ptut
  • uptt

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

pputt1ptut2uptt2
Edit distance from "putt"

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 "putt"?
"putt" is spelled P-U-T-T. The IPA pronunciation is /pʌt/.
What does "putt" mean?
As a noun, "putt" means: The act of tapping a golf ball lightly on a putting green.
What words are commonly confused with "putt"?
"putt" is commonly confused with "putty", "putter", "pt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "putt"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "putt" is /pʌt/. 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 "putt"?
Borrowed from Scots putt (“to put”). Compare Middle Dutch putten (“to dig a pit”). The Old English putian (“to push; thrust; put; place”) derivation is commonly assumed, although no longer valid. In Dutch, the word is instanced in a description of... 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 "putt", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

prog#23,952Rana#23,962rife#23,975OPEC#23,928

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list