smother
/ˈsməðər/
"smother" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“smother” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,085 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #35,085
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
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 | smother |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈsməðər/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #35,085 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “smother” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for smother is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsməðər/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,085 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for smother, with forms such as "msother", "smmother", and "smohter". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "soothe", "Smythe", "spotter", 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 smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-Germanic *smurōną (“to… The correct English form is smother, spelled S-M-O-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
- 2To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
- 3To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
- 4To cook in a close dish.
- 5To daub or smear.
- 6To be suffocated.
- 7To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
- 8to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
- 9to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
- 10To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
- 11To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.
- 12To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.
Etymology
From Middle English smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-Germanic *smurōną (“to suffocate, strangle”), probably related to *smallijan (“to burn”) or Old English smoca (“smoke”). Cognate with Middle Low German smoren, smurten (“to choke, suffocate”), West Flemish smoren (“to smoke, reek”), Dutch smoren (“to suffocate, smother", also "to stew, simmer”), German schmoren (“to stew, simmer, braise”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: msother,smmother,smohter,smotehr,smotherr,smothher,smothre,smotther,smtoher,somther,ssmother
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of smother - 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
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Using “smother”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-M-O-T-H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsməðər/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “soothe” - see the side-by-side comparison. smother vs soothe
- 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.