somebody
/ˈsʌmbˌɒdi/
"somebody" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“somebody” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,675 in English word frequency and used as a pronoun.
- #1,675
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Some unspecified person.
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 | somebody |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Pronoun |
| IPA | /ˈsʌmbˌɒdi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,675 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “somebody” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for somebody is 8 letters long, classified as a pronoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsʌmbˌɒdi/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,675 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Some unspecified person.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for somebody, with forms such as "osmebody", "smoebody", and "soembody". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "somebody's", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sum body, equivalent to some + body. The correct English form is somebody, spelled S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y.
Definition
- 1Some unspecified person.
Etymology
From Middle English sum body, equivalent to some + body.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osmebody,smoebody,soembody,sombeody,somebbody,somebdoy,someboddy,somebodyy,someboyd,someobdy,sommebody,ssomebody
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of somebody - 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 "somebody"?
What does "somebody" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "somebody"?
How do you pronounce "somebody"?
What is the origin of the word "somebody"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “somebody”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsʌmbˌɒdi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “somebody's” - see the side-by-side comparison. somebody vs somebody's
- 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.