smart
/smɑɹt/
"smart" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“smart” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,578. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,578
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To hurt or sting.
Corpus desk
Index EN-smart · smart · English
smart · rank #1,578 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,578
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH separate
Nearest frequency peer: separate (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “smart”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- scale
scale
98,426 corpus weight
- score
score
98,425 corpus weight
- separate
separate
98,424 corpus weight
- smart
smart
98,423 corpus weight
- surface
surface
98,421 corpus weight
- throw
throw
98,420 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “smart” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | smart |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /smɑɹt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,578 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “smart” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around smart (IPA /smɑɹt/), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,578 among 54,294 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for smart, with forms such as "msart", "samrt", and "smarrt". 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, "SMT", "star", "sort", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English smerten, from Old English *smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-West Germanic *smertan, from Proto-Germanic *smertaną (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German … The correct English form is smart, spelled S-M-A-R-T.
Definition
- 1To hurt or sting.
- 2To cause a smart or sting in.
- 3To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how smart appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"
He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."
Etymology
From Middle English smerten, from Old English *smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-West Germanic *smertan, from Proto-Germanic *smertaną (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German schmerzen, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- msart
- samrt
- smarrt
- smartt
- smatr
- smmart
- smrat
- ssmart
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of smart - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "smart", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
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.