soothing
/ˈsuːðɪŋ/
"soothing" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“soothing” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,133 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #16,133
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tending to soothe or mollify.
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 | soothing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsuːðɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #16,133 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “soothing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for soothing is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsuːðɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,133 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for soothing, with forms such as "osothing", "soohting", and "soothhing". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "spotting", "shooting", "scathing", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is soothing, spelled S-O-O-T-H-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Tending to soothe or mollify.
- 2Giving relief.
- 3Freeing from fear or anxiety.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osothing,soohting,soothhing,soothign,soothingg,soothinng,soothnig,sootihng,sootthing,sothing,sotohing,ssoothing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of soothing - 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
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Using “soothing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-O-O-T-H-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsuːðɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “spotting” - see the side-by-side comparison. soothing vs spotting
- 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.