scorn
/skɔːn/
"scorn" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scorn” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,584 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #24,584
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
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 | scorn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /skɔːn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #24,584 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scorn” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scorn is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /skɔːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,584 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 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 scorn, with forms such as "csorn", "sccorn", and "sconr". 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, "son", "sor", "soon", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Verb from Middle English scornen, schornen, alteration of Old French escharnir, from Vulgar Latin *escarnire, from Proto-West Germanic *skarnijan, possibly from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (“to shear”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”)), or possibly… The correct English form is scorn, spelled S-C-O-R-N.
Definition
- 1To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
- 2To reject, turn down.
- 3To refuse to do something, as beneath oneself.
- 4To scoff, to express contempt.
Etymology
Verb from Middle English scornen, schornen, alteration of Old French escharnir, from Vulgar Latin *escarnire, from Proto-West Germanic *skarnijan, possibly from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (“to shear”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”)), or possibly related to *skarną (“dung, filth”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱerd-, *(s)ḱer- (“dung, manure, filth”)). Noun from Old French escarn (cognate with Portuguese escárnio, Spanish escarnio and Italian scherno). Cognate with Middle High German schern (“joke, mockery, scorn”), Old English sċierniċġe (“female entertainer, juggler, actress”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csorn,sccorn,sconr,scornn,scorrn,scron,socrn,sscorn
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scorn - 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 "scorn"?
What does "scorn" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "scorn"?
How do you pronounce "scorn"?
What is the origin of the word "scorn"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “scorn”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-O-R-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /skɔːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “son” - see the side-by-side comparison. scorn vs son
- 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.