sort out

verb

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

"sort-out" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sort out” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To clarify by reviewing mentally.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sort-out · sort out · English

sort out · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for sort out
PropertyValue
Headwordsort out
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “sort out” in English

sort outranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sort out is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for sort out in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is sort out, spelled S-O-R-T- -O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To clarify by reviewing mentally.
  2. 2
    To arrange.
  3. 3
    To fix (a problem).
  4. 4
    To organise or separate into groups, as a collection of items, so as to make tidy.
  5. 5
    To separate from the remainder of a group; often construed with from.
  6. 6
    To take action to stop someone who has been causing trouble, often by physically attacking them.
  7. 7
    To provide (somebody) with a necessity, or a solution to a problem.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. It's a bit confused at the moment, I'll try to sort it out later.
  2. Could you call Dave and sort out a meeting for tomorrow?

This word in other languages

discernir(Español)résoudre(Français)klären(Deutsch)resolver(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sort out"?
"sort out" is spelled S-O-R-T- -O-U-T.
What does "sort out" mean?
As a verb, "sort out" means: To clarify by reviewing mentally.
What language does "sort out" come from?
"sort out" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list