sportsman

Name: sportsman, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“sportsman” has 15 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #23,685. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,685
frequency rank, English: 6,566
“S” headwords: 15
tracked misspellings: 3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A man who engages in sports; an athlete.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sportsman · sportsman · English

sportsman · rank #23,685 · 15 variants · 3 confusables

FREQ-MID #23,685
LEN-LONG 9 letters
VOW-2 2 vowels
CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
VAR-HIGH 15 variants
BOOK-DENSE 6,566
PHOTO-FINISH spinoff

Nearest frequency peer: spinoff (-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.

SoundCloud

76,320
Sparta

76,318
spinoff

76,317
sportsman

76,316
squarely

76,314
stepmother

76,312

What this shows “sportsman” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

sportsman vs swordsman

78% similar

sportsman vs Scotsman

67% similar

sportsman vs spokesman

78% similar

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

Key facts for sportsman
Property	Value
Headword	sportsman
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	9
Frequency rank	#23,685
Misspellings tracked	15
Confusable pairs	3
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “sportsman”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).sportsmanlands here:

#23,685

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “spinoff” (#23,684), “Sparta” (#23,683), “squarely” (#23,687). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sportsman” is #23,685. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around sportsman, anoun. Corpus frequency is #23,685 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for sportsman, with forms such as "psortsman", "soprtsman", and "sporrtsman". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "swordsman", "Scotsman", "spokesman", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From sports + -man. The correct English form is sportsman, spelled S-P-O-R-T-S-M-A-N.

Definition

1
A man who engages in sports; an athlete.
2
A man who engages in country sports, such as hunting or fishing.
3
A man who exhibits good sportsmanship, or who exhibits sportsmanship as specified (good or bad).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

On the contrary, the difference between the worse male and female sportsmen was 54 ms. Among the male sportsmen [...]. Among the female sportsmen [...]
In both cases the female sportsmen were Nordic skiers.

Etymology

From sports + -man.

This word in other languages

deportista(Español)sportif(Français)Sportler(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

psortsman
soprtsman
sporrtsman
sporstman
sportmsan
sportsamn
sportsmann
sportsmman
sportsmna
sportssman
sporttsman
spotrsman
spportsman
sprotsman
ssportsman

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

Edit distance from "sportsman"

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 "sportsman"?

"sportsman" is spelled S-P-O-R-T-S-M-A-N.

What does "sportsman" mean?

As a noun, "sportsman" means: A man who engages in sports; an athlete.

What words are commonly confused with "sportsman"?

"sportsman" is commonly confused with "swordsman", "Scotsman", "spokesman". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

What is the origin of the word "sportsman"?

From sports + -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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

socialize#23,680 shorthand#23,674 shortcuts#23,673 shillings#23,672

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

SoundCloud15 variants undeniably15 variants unorthodox15 variants perpetually15 variants