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” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,499 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#2,499
frequency rank, English
4
letters
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a food ingredient, seasoning, condiment, and preservative.

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)

Where “salt” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). salt lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for salt is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɒlt/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,499 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

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.

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.

Using “salt”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-A-L-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /sɒlt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “SL” - see the side-by-side comparison. salt vs SL
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list