# sore

> English word · Adjective · IPA /sɔː/ · frequency rank #7,289

## Definitions
1. Causing pain or discomfort; painfully sensitive.
2. Sensitive; tender; easily pained, grieved, or vexed; very susceptible of irritation.
3. Dire; distressing.
4. Feeling animosity towards someone; annoyed or angered.
5. Criminal; wrong; evil.

## Etymology
From Middle English sor, from Old English sār (“ache, wound”, noun) and sār (“painful, grievous”, adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *sair, from Proto-Germanic *sairaz (adjective) from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂eyro-, enlargement of *sh₂ey- (“to be fierce, afflict”).
See also Dutch zeer (“sore, ache”), Danish sår (“wound”), German sehr (“very”); also Hittite [script needed] (sāwar, “anger”), Welsh hoed (“pain”), Ancient Greek αἱμωδία (haimōdía, “sensation of having teeth on edge”).

## Easily confused with
- **sue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sue)
- **sox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sox)
- **soy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-soy)
- **sow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sow)
- **SOS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sos)
- **STR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-str)
- **SSE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sse)
- **sou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sou)
- **SPR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-spr)
- **sot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sot)
- **sov** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sov)
- **sry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sry)
- **sure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sure)
- **sort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sort)
- **soul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-soul)
- **soup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-soup)
- **sour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sour)
- **surf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-surf)
- **sous** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sous)
- **Soto** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-soto)

## Common misspellings (5)
`osre`, `soer`, `sorre`, `sroe`, `ssore`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sore