sort

/soɹt/

//soɹt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sort" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sort” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,098. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,098
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A general type.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sort · sort · English

sort · rank #1,098 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,098
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH section

Nearest frequency peer: section (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “sort”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “sort” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sort vs sox
50% similar
sort vs soy
50% similar
sort vs sow
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sort
PropertyValue
Headwordsort
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/soɹt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,098
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sort” sits in English frequency

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).sortlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “section” (#1,097), “speed” (#1,099), “reported” (#1,096). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around sort (IPA /soɹt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,098 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for sort, with forms such as "osrt", "sorrt", and "sortt". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sox", "soy", "sow", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”). The correct English form is sort, spelled S-O-R-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A general type.
  2. 2
    Manner, way; form of being or acting.
  3. 3
    Condition above the vulgar; rank.
  4. 4
    A person evaluated in a certain way.
  5. 5
    Group, company.
  6. 6
    A good-looking woman.
  7. 7
    An act of sorting.
  8. 8
    An algorithm for sorting a list of items into a particular sequence.
  9. 9
    A piece of metal type used to print one letter, character, or symbol in a particular size and style.
  10. 10
    A type.
  11. 11
    Fate, fortune, destiny.
  12. 12
    Anything used to determine the answer to a question by chance; lot.
  13. 13
    A full set of anything, such as a pair of shoes or a suit of clothes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sort appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  2. “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer.[…]”

Etymology

From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”).

Synonyms

genregenuskindtypevarietycharacterindividualpersontypesort-outsort algorithmsorting algorithmglyphtype

This word in other languages

género(Español)type(Français)Art(Deutsch)tipo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • osrt
  • sorrt
  • sortt
  • sotr
  • srot
  • ssort

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sort - 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.

osrt2sorrt1sortt1sotr2srot2ssort1
Edit distance from "sort"

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 "sort"?
"sort" is spelled S-O-R-T. The IPA pronunciation is /soɹt/.
What does "sort" mean?
As a noun, "sort" means: A general type.
What words are commonly confused with "sort"?
"sort" is commonly confused with "sox", "soy", "sow". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sort"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sort" is /soɹt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sort"?
From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sort", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

drop#1,103fair#1,104feet#1,105link#1,108

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

speed6 variantskept6 variantsjobs6 variantscross6 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "sort". Here's where to go from here.

  • "sort" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "sox". View pair
  • 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #1,098 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list