social worker

noun

"social-worker" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“social worker” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person, usually employed by the state, that supports the welfare of individuals or groups, especially those that are socially disadvantaged.

Corpus desk

Index EN-social-worker · social worker · English

social worker · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for social worker
PropertyValue
Headwordsocial worker
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “social worker” in English

social workerranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

social worker is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A person, usually employed by the state, that supports the welfare of individuals or groups, especially those that are socially disadvantaged.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for social worker in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is social worker, spelled S-O-C-I-A-L- -W-O-R-K-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person, usually employed by the state, that supports the welfare of individuals or groups, especially those that are socially disadvantaged.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I had a visit from my social worker last week.
  2. These are but a few instances of the benefits conferred by him as a social worker; but until these can be fully recorded, let us bear in mind as no small part of the debt we owe to the truly noble man[…]

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "social worker"?
"social worker" is spelled S-O-C-I-A-L- -W-O-R-K-E-R.
What does "social worker" mean?
As a noun, "social worker" means: A person, usually employed by the state, that supports the welfare of individuals or groups, especially those that are socially disadvantaged.
What language does "social worker" come from?
"social worker" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list