sooty
/ˈsʊti/
"sooty" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sooty” is uncommon English (frequency #52,639 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,639
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of, relating to, or producing soot.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sooty · sooty · English
sooty · rank #52,639 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,639
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Sookie
Nearest frequency peer: Sookie (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “sooty”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- softener
softener
47,366 corpus weight
- Soledad
Soledad
47,365 corpus weight
- Sookie
Sookie
47,363 corpus weight
- sooty
sooty
47,362 corpus weight
- spillover
spillover
47,361 corpus weight
- spunky
spunky
47,360 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sooty” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sooty |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsʊti/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #52,639 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sooty” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sooty is uncommon English at frequency #52,639 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈsʊti/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for sooty, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sooty, soty, equivalent to soot + -y. Probably influenced by similar Middle English suti (“dirty, filthy”), derived from the same root as Old English besūtian (“to befoul”). The correct English form is sooty, spelled S-O-O-T-Y.
Definition
- 1Of, relating to, or producing soot.
- 2Soiled with soot
- 3Of the color of soot.
- 4Dark-skinned; black.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sooty appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Fire of sooty coal.
The white faience façade, the glazed Doultonware Carrera marble, was made locally. And being glazed, it was impervious to London's sooty atmosphere, enabling easier cleaning.
Etymology
From Middle English sooty, soty, equivalent to soot + -y. Probably influenced by similar Middle English suti (“dirty, filthy”), derived from the same root as Old English besūtian (“to befoul”).
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sooty", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).