Sappho
/ˈsæfoʊ/
"sappho" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Sappho” is uncommon English (frequency #59,690 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,690
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An Ancient Greek female name, particularly borne by a poetess from Lesbos who lived between 630 and 570 BC (exact dates unknown).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Sappho |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈsæfoʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #59,690 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Sappho” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Sappho is uncommon English at frequency #59,690 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈsæfoʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Sappho has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Sapphō, from Ancient Greek Σαπφώ (Sapphṓ). The correct English form is Sappho, spelled S-A-P-P-H-O.
Definition
- 1An Ancient Greek female name, particularly borne by a poetess from Lesbos who lived between 630 and 570 BC (exact dates unknown).
- 280 Sappho, a main belt asteroid.
- 3A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Etymology
From Latin Sapphō, from Ancient Greek Σαπφώ (Sapphṓ).
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); 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
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Using “Sappho”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-P-P-H-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsæfoʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.