small potatoes
"small-potatoes" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“small potatoes” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One or more persons or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | small potatoes |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “small potatoes” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for small potatoes is 14 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "One or more persons or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for small potatoes, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: A specialization of a sense of potato meaning a thing of little value, and a comment on the low value of a small potato in particular, appearing in its modern form in North America in the mid-19th century (see 1855 quotation). The correct English form is small potatoes, spelled S-M-A-L-L- -P-O-T-A-T-O-E-S.
Definition
- 1One or more persons or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
Etymology
A specialization of a sense of potato meaning a thing of little value, and a comment on the low value of a small potato in particular, appearing in its modern form in North America in the mid-19th century (see 1855 quotation).
Antonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "small potatoes"?
What does "small potatoes" mean?
What is the origin of the word "small potatoes"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “small potatoes”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-M-A-L-L- -P-O-T-A-T-O-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.