some
/sʌm/pronoun, determiner, adverb
some is spelled S-O-M-E. The wrong spelling people search most is smoe: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 43 of all searches for the word. Some is a pronoun meaning “A certain number (multiple but not all)”.
How many letters and syllables are in some?
| Letters | 4: S-O-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 1,585 times per million words; the 71st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, smoe, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell some?
Some is spelled S-O-M-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 43 of the searches for some in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is some?
Some appears 1,585 times per million words in written English, the 71st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce some?
- UK /sʌm/
- UK [sɐm]
- /sʊm/
Some has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-some.wav, En-us-some.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--some.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with some
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: sum (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: som.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with some?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as some from its last stressed vowel (/ʌm/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: meso.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of some
- som
- som'
- sum
- more -some comparative
- most -some superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does some mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
pronoun
- 1
A certain number (multiple but not all).
Some enjoy spicy food, others prefer it milder.
- 2
An indefinite quantity.
Can I have some of them?
- 3
An indefinite amount; a part. Used mostly with abstract and nonliving objects.
Please give me some of the cake.
- 4
obsoleteSomeone, a certain person.
determiner
- 1
A nonzero, unspecified proportion of (a bounded set of countable things): at least two.
Near-synonym: any
- 2
A nonzero, unspecified quantity or number of (an unbounded set of countable things).
Near-synonym: any
- 3
An unspecified amount of (something uncountable).
Near-synonym: any
- 4
A certain, an unspecified or unknown.
I've just met some guy who said he knew you.
- 5
A considerable quantity or number of.
He had edited the paper for some years.
- 6
Approximately, about (with a number).
She has worked at the company for some thirty years now. (31 and two months, to be exact.)
- 7
Emphasizing a number.
She has worked at the company for some five years now! How remarkable!
- 8
informalA remarkable.
He is some acrobat!
adverb
- 1
Of a measurement: approximately, roughly.
I guess he must have weighed some 90 kilos.
- 2
To a certain extent, or for a certain period.
- 3
Somewhat, a little.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Some in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | quelque, quelques, certains , du, de la, des |
| German | einige, manche , ein paar , etwas , manch , welche |
| Portuguese | algum , alguns , um pouco de , um pouco , um , uns |
| Spanish | alguno , unos, unas , algo, un tanto, algún tanto |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does some come from?
From Middle English som, sum, from Old English sum (“some, a certain one”), from Proto-West Germanic *sum, from Proto-Germanic *sumaz (“some, a certain one”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, whole”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).