spokesman

noun

"spokesman" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“spokesman” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,820 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#9,820
frequency rank, English
9
letters
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One who speaks as the voice of another person or a group of people.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

spokesman vs sportsman
78% similar
spokesman vs spokeswoman
82% similar

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

Key facts for spokesman
PropertyValue
Headwordspokesman
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#9,820
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “spokesman” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). spokesman lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for spokesman is 9 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #9,820 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "One who speaks as the voice of another person or a group of people.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for spokesman, with forms such as "psokesman", "sopkesman", and "spkoesman". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "sportsman", "spokeswoman", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From spoke (“past participle of speak”) + -s- + man. The correct English form is spokesman, spelled S-P-O-K-E-S-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    One who speaks as the voice of another person or a group of people.

Etymology

From spoke (“past participle of speak”) + -s- + man.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: psokesman,sopkesman,spkoesman,spoeksman,spokemsan,spokesamn,spokesmann,spokesmman,spokesmna,spokessman,spokkesman,spokseman,sppokesman,sspokesman

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spokesman - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

psokesman2sopkesman2spkoesman2spoeksman2spokemsan2spokesamn2spokesmann1spokesmman1
Edit distance from "spokesman"

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 "spokesman"?
"spokesman" is spelled S-P-O-K-E-S-M-A-N.
What does "spokesman" mean?
As a noun, "spokesman" means: One who speaks as the voice of another person or a group of people.
What words are commonly confused with "spokesman"?
"spokesman" is commonly confused with "sportsman", "spokeswoman". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "spokesman"?
From spoke (“past participle of speak”) + -s- + man. 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.

Using “spokesman”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-P-O-K-E-S-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “sportsman” - see the side-by-side comparison. spokesman vs sportsman
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list