something
/ˈsʌm.θɪŋ/
"something" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“something” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #152 in English word frequency and used as a pronoun.
- #152
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.
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 | something |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Pronoun |
| IPA | /ˈsʌm.θɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #152 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “something” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for something is 9 letters long, classified as a pronoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsʌm.θɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #152 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for something, with forms such as "osmething", "smoething", and "soemthing". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "soothing", "something's", "seething", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English somþyng, some-thing, som thing, sum thinge, sum þinge, from Old English sum þing (literally “some thing”), equivalent to some + thing. Compare Old English āwiht (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”), Swedish någonting (“someth… The correct English form is something, spelled S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.
- 2A quality to a moderate degree.
- 3A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.
- 4Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way.
Etymology
From Middle English somþyng, some-thing, som thing, sum thinge, sum þinge, from Old English sum þing (literally “some thing”), equivalent to some + thing. Compare Old English āwiht (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”), Swedish någonting (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osmething,smoething,soemthing,somehting,somethhing,somethign,somethingg,somethinng,somethnig,sometihng,sometthing,sommething,somtehing,ssomething
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of something - 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.
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 "something"?
What does "something" mean?
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What is the origin of the word "something"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “something”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsʌm.θɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “soothing” - see the side-by-side comparison. something vs soothing
- 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.