smartness
"smartness" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“smartness” is uncommon English (frequency #78,136 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,136
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The state or quality of being smart, intelligence.
Corpus desk
Index EN-smartness · smartness · English
smartness · rank #78,136 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,136
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sloppiness
Nearest frequency peer: sloppiness (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “smartness”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- slobber
slobber
21,867 corpus weight
- sloppiness
sloppiness
21,866 corpus weight
- smartness
smartness
21,865 corpus weight
- snowbird
snowbird
21,862 corpus weight
- snowmobiling
snowmobiling
21,861 corpus weight
- Sokol
Sokol
21,860 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “smartness” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | smartness |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #78,136 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “smartness” in English
Rare enough to double-check
smartness is uncommon English at frequency #78,136 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for smartness in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English smartnesse, smertnesse, equivalent to smart + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch smartenisse (“pain, injury, insult, scorn, agony”). The correct English form is smartness, spelled S-M-A-R-T-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1The state or quality of being smart, intelligence.
- 2The state or quality of being smart in appearance.
- 3The result or product of being smart.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how smartness appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The station buildings at Oxton and Lauder have been repainted, and a general air of smartness prevails, marred only by some broken signal spectacles.
Etymology
From Middle English smartnesse, smertnesse, equivalent to smart + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch smartenisse (“pain, injury, insult, scorn, agony”).
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
How do you spell "smartness"?
What does "smartness" mean?
What is the origin of the word "smartness"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "smartness", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).