snob

/snɒb/

//snɒb// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"snob" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“snob” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #30,592. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,592
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes.

Corpus desk

Index EN-snob · snob · English

snob · rank #30,592 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,592
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Snape

Nearest frequency peer: Snape (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “snob”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “snob” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

snob vs so
50% similar
snob vs son
50% similar
snob vs sub
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for snob
PropertyValue
Headwordsnob
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/snɒb/
Letters4
Frequency rank#30,592
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “snob”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).snoblands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Snape” (#30,591), “sodomy” (#30,593), “smuggler” (#30,590). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “snob” is #30,592. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around snob (IPA /snɒb/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #30,592 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for snob, with forms such as "nsob", "snbo", and "snnob". 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, "so", "son", "sub", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Late 18th century dialectal English snob (“cobbler”), of unknown origin. Early senses of the word carried the meaning of "lower status"; it was then used to describe those seeking to imitate those of higher wealth or status. Folk etymology derives it from t… The correct English form is snob, spelled S-N-O-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes.
  2. 2
    A cobbler or shoemaker.
  3. 3
    A member of the lower classes; a commoner.
  4. 4
    A workman who works for lower wages than his fellows, especially one who will not join a strike (a scab).
  5. 5
    A townsman, as opposed to a gownsman.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how snob appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. "How do you do?" said Mabel politely. "No, I'm not from the town. I live at Yalding Towers." The name seemed to impress Mademoiselle very much. Gerald anxiously hoped in his own mind that she was not a snob.
  2. Proceed as a snob climbing the social ladder, namely, know the best people in the neighbourhood, then the best people they know. The end is not that of snobbery, but an eternal treasure.

Etymology

Late 18th century dialectal English snob (“cobbler”), of unknown origin. Early senses of the word carried the meaning of "lower status"; it was then used to describe those seeking to imitate those of higher wealth or status. Folk etymology derives it from the Latin phrase sine nobilitate (“without nobility”), but early uses had no connection to this. The modern sense was popularized by William Makepeace Thackeray in The Book of Snobs (1848).

This word in other languages

esnob(Español)snob(Français)Snob(Deutsch)esnobe(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • nsob
  • snbo
  • snnob
  • snobb
  • sonb
  • ssnob

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of snob - 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.

nsob2snbo2snnob1snobb1sonb2ssnob1
Edit distance from "snob"

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 "snob"?
"snob" is spelled S-N-O-B. The IPA pronunciation is /snɒb/.
What does "snob" mean?
As a noun, "snob" means: A person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes.
What words are commonly confused with "snob"?
"snob" is commonly confused with "so", "son", "sub". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "snob"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "snob" is /snɒb/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "snob"?
Late 18th century dialectal English snob (“cobbler”), of unknown origin. Early senses of the word carried the meaning of "lower status"; it was then used to describe those seeking to imitate those of higher wealth or status. Folk etymology derives... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "snob", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

silt#30,585shep#30,582Rojo#30,571wack#30,646

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

USAID6 variantspiped6 variantsodour6 variantsadage6 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list