scant
/skænt/
"scant" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scant” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,564 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #25,564
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /skænt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #25,564 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scant” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scant is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /skænt/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,564 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for scant, with forms such as "csant", "sacnt", and "scannt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sent", "seat", "sean", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. No… The correct English form is scant, spelled S-C-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.
- 2Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
- 3Slightly diminished; just short of the amount described.
Etymology
Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csant,sacnt,scannt,scantt,scatn,sccant,scnat,sscant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scant - 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.
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 "scant"?
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Using “scant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /skænt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sent” - see the side-by-side comparison. scant vs sent
- 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.