society
/səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/
"society" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“society” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #700 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #700
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.
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 | society |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #700 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “society” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for society is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/. Corpus data places it at rank #700 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for society, with forms such as "osciety", "scoiety", and "socciety". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "soviet", "socket", "societal", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós Proto-Italic *sokjos Lati… The correct English form is society, spelled S-O-C-I-E-T-Y.
Definition
- 1A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.
- 2A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.
- 3The sum total of all voluntary interrelations between individuals.
- 4The people of one’s country or community taken as a whole.
- 5High society.
- 6A number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós Proto-Italic *sokjos Latin sokios Latin socius Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin societāslbor. Old French societé Middle French societébor. English society Borrowed from Middle French societé, from Old French societé, from Latin societās, societātem (“fellowship, association, alliance, union, community”), from socius (“associated, allied; partner, companion, ally”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-yo- (“companion”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). First attested in the 1530s.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osciety,scoiety,socciety,soceity,societty,societyy,socieyt,socitey,soicety,ssociety
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of society - 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.
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 "society"?
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Using “society”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-O-C-I-E-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “soviet” - see the side-by-side comparison. society vs soviet
- 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.