salt

/sɒlt/

//sɒlt// noun

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

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

The verdict

“salt” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,499. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,499
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a food ingredient, seasoning, condiment, and preservative.

Corpus desk

Index EN-salt · salt · English

salt · rank #2,499 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,499
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH row

Nearest frequency peer: row (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “salt”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “salt” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

salt vs SL
0% similar
salt vs say
50% similar
salt vs set
50% similar

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

Key facts for salt
PropertyValue
Headwordsalt
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sɒlt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,499
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “salt”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).saltlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “row” (#2,498), “scared” (#2,500), “returns” (#2,497). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “salt” is #2,499. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around salt (IPA /sɒlt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,499 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for salt, with forms such as "aslt", "sallt", and "saltt". 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, "SL", "say", "set", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *séh₂ls From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, salary, and salsa, all ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it su… The correct English form is salt, spelled S-A-L-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a food ingredient, seasoning, condiment, and preservative.
  2. 2
    One of the compounds formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, where a positive ion replaces a hydrogen of the acid.
  3. 3
    A salt marsh, a saline marsh at the shore of a sea.
  4. 4
    A sailor (also old salt).
  5. 5
    A sequence of random data added to plain text data (such as passwords or messages) prior to encryption or hashing, in order to make brute force decryption more difficult.
  6. 6
    A person who seeks employment at a company in order to (once employed by it) help unionize it.
  7. 7
    Flavour; taste; seasoning.
  8. 8
    Piquancy; wit; sense.
  9. 9
    A dish for salt at table; a salt cellar.
  10. 10
    Epsom salts or other salt used as a medicine.
  11. 11
    Skepticism and common sense.
  12. 12
    Tears; indignation; outrage; arguing.
  13. 13
    The money demanded by Eton schoolboys during the montem.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Near-synonyms: table salt, rock salt, road salt
  2. Take gode almaunde mylke y-draw wyth wyn, an let hem boyle to-gederys, an caste þer-to Safroun an Salt; […]

Etymology

PIE word *séh₂ls From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, salary, and salsa, all ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".

Synonyms

sal

This word in other languages

sal(Español)sel(Français)Salz(Deutsch)sal(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aslt
  • sallt
  • saltt
  • satl
  • slat
  • ssalt

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of salt - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

aslt2sallt1saltt1satl2slat2ssalt1
Edit distance from "salt"

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 "salt"?
"salt" is spelled S-A-L-T. The IPA pronunciation is /sɒlt/.
What does "salt" mean?
As a noun, "salt" means: A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a food ingredient, seasoning, condiment, and preservative.
What words are commonly confused with "salt"?
"salt" is commonly confused with "SL", "say", "set". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "salt"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "salt" is /sɒlt/. 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 "salt"?
PIE word *séh₂ls From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, salary, and salsa, all ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), w... 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 "salt", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

info#2,489hang#2,487bell#2,515blow#2,516

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

goods6 variantsaside6 variantsbond6 variantsbomb6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list