smite
/smaɪt/
"smite" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“smite” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,767 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #31,767
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To hit; to strike.
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 | smite |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /smaɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #31,767 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “smite” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for smite is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /smaɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,767 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for smite, with forms such as "msite", "simte", and "smiet". 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, "SMT", "suit", "spit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English smiten, from Old English smītan (“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), from Proto-West Germanic *smītan, from Proto-Germanic *smītaną (“to sling; throw; smear”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- (“to smear, whisk, strike, rub… The correct English form is smite, spelled S-M-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1To hit; to strike.
- 2To strike down or kill with godly force.
- 3To injure with divine power.
- 4To kill violently; to slay.
- 5To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
- 6To afflict; to chasten; to punish.
- 7To strike with love or infatuation.
Etymology
From Middle English smiten, from Old English smītan (“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), from Proto-West Germanic *smītan, from Proto-Germanic *smītaną (“to sling; throw; smear”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- (“to smear, whisk, strike, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smiete (“to throw, toss”), West Frisian smite (“to throw”), Dutch smijten (“to fling, hurl, throw”), German Low German smieten (“to throw, chuck, toss”), German schmeißen (“to fling, throw”), Danish smide (“to throw”), Swedish smita (“to run off (to)”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌼𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bismeitan, “to besmear, anoint”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: msite,simte,smiet,smitte,smmite,smtie,ssmite
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of smite - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "smite"?
What does "smite" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “smite”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-M-I-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /smaɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “SMT” - see the side-by-side comparison. smite vs SMT
- 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.