sex
/sɛks/
"sex" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sex” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #611 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #611
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A category into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their species; the system of such categories, which can differ by organism or by taxonom...
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 | sex |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sɛks/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #611 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sex” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sex is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɛks/. Corpus data places it at rank #611 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sex, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "so", "SI", "SS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sek-der. Proto-Indo-European *séksusder. Proto-Italic *seksus Latin sexusder. Old French sexeder. Middle English sexe English sex From Middle English sexe (“sex [distinction between male and female] and gender”), from Old… The correct English form is sex, spelled S-E-X.
Definition
- 1A category into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their species; the system of such categories, which can differ by organism or by taxonomic branch.
- 2Another category, especially of humans and especially based on sexuality or gender roles.
- 3The members of such a category, taken collectively.
- 4The distinction and relation between these categories, especially in humans; gender.
- 5Women; the human female gender and those who belong to it.
- 6Sexual activity, usually sexual intercourse unless preceded by a modifier.
- 7Genitalia: a penis or vagina/vulva.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sek-der. Proto-Indo-European *séksusder. Proto-Italic *seksus Latin sexusder. Old French sexeder. Middle English sexe English sex From Middle English sexe (“sex [distinction between male and female] and gender”), from Old French sexe (“genitals; gender”), from Latin sexus (“gender; gender traits; males or females; genitals”), from Proto-Italic *seksus, from Proto-Indo-European *séksus, from *sek- (“to cut, cut off, sever”), thus meaning "section, division" (into male and female). Usage for women influenced by Middle French le sexe (“women”) (attested in 1580). Usage for third and additional sexes calqued from French troisième sexe, referring to masculine women in 1817 and homosexuals in 1847. First used by Lord Byron and others in English in reference to Catholic clergy. Usage for sexual intercourse first attested in 1899 (in the writings of H. G. Wells).
Synonyms
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 “sex”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɛks/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “so” - see the side-by-side comparison. sex vs so
- 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.