snuff

/snʌf/

//snʌf// noun

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

"snuff" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“snuff” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #24,003. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,003
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Finely ground or pulverized tobacco (or other plant derivative) intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose.

Corpus desk

Index EN-snuff · snuff · English

snuff · rank #24,003 · 6 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,003
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH snowboarding

Nearest frequency peer: snowboarding (-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 “snuff”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “snuff” 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).

snuff vs surf
60% similar
snuff vs snug
60% similar
snuff vs Sufi
40% similar

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

Key facts for snuff
PropertyValue
Headwordsnuff
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/snʌf/
Letters5
Frequency rank#24,003
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “snuff”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).snufflands 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 “snowboarding” (#24,002), “solidly” (#24,004), “Slavic” (#24,001). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “snuff” is #24,003. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around snuff (IPA /snʌf/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #24,003 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for snuff, with forms such as "nsuff", "snfuf", and "snnuff". 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 15 confusable-pair relationships, "surf", "snug", "Sufi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Late Middle English, from Middle Dutch snuffen (“to snuff, sniff, snuffle”). Related to Dutch snuiven (“to sniff”), Middle Low German snûve (“pose, head-cold”), German Schnupfen (“head-cold”). The noun is probably from Dutch snuf (“snuff”), an abbreviation … The correct English form is snuff, spelled S-N-U-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Finely ground or pulverized tobacco (or other plant derivative) intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose.
  2. 2
    Fine-ground or minced tobacco, dry or moistened, intended for use by placing a pinch behind the lip or beneath the tongue.
  3. 3
    A snort or sniff of fine-ground, powdered, or pulverized tobacco.
  4. 4
    The act of briskly inhaling by the nose; a sniff, a snort.
  5. 5
    Resentment or skepticism expressed by quickly drawing air through the nose; snuffling; sniffling.
  6. 6
    Snot, mucus.
  7. 7
    Smell, scent, odour.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The native of some South American tribes use this drug as an aphrodisiac in the form of a snuff called cohoba.
  2. Dry snuffs are often adulterated with quicklime, and moist snuffs, as rappee, with ammonia, hellebore, pearl-ash, etc.

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Middle Dutch snuffen (“to snuff, sniff, snuffle”). Related to Dutch snuiven (“to sniff”), Middle Low German snûve (“pose, head-cold”), German Schnupfen (“head-cold”). The noun is probably from Dutch snuf (“snuff”), an abbreviation of snuftabak, snuiftabak (“snuff”). Related to sniff (compare Dutch snuffen (“snuff”), German schnupf (“snuff”), French schnouff (“junk”)).

This word in other languages

rapé(Español)tabac à priser(Français)Schnupftabak(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • nsuff
  • snfuf
  • snnuff
  • snuf
  • ssnuff
  • sunff

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of snuff - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

nsuff2snfuf2snnuff1snuf1ssnuff1sunff2
Edit distance from "snuff"

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 "snuff"?
"snuff" is spelled S-N-U-F-F. The IPA pronunciation is /snʌf/.
What does "snuff" mean?
As a noun, "snuff" means: Finely ground or pulverized tobacco (or other plant derivative) intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose.
What words are commonly confused with "snuff"?
"snuff" is commonly confused with "surf", "snug", "Sufi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "snuff"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "snuff" is /snʌf/. 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 "snuff"?
Late Middle English, from Middle Dutch snuffen (“to snuff, sniff, snuffle”). Related to Dutch snuiven (“to sniff”), Middle Low German snûve (“pose, head-cold”), German Schnupfen (“head-cold”). The noun is probably from Dutch snuf (“snuff”), an abb... 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 "snuff", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

stoic#24,008sever#23,989taser#24,017Selma#23,987

Similar misspelling depth

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

skit6 variantsturd6 variantsprog6 variantsWoolf6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list