English Word Reference Free

spring

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

6 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "spring", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "spring" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "spring" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

spring is aEnglishverb. It means: To move or burst forth. Pronounced /ˈspɹɪŋ/. It ranks #1,286 in English word frequency. Often confused with swing and sting.

Key facts for spring
PropertyValue
Headwordspring
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈspɹɪŋ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,286
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of spring in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for spring is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈspɹɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,286 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 38 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for spring, with forms such as "psring", "spirng", and "sppring". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "swing", "sting", "suing", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, rac… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is spring, spelled S-P-R-I-N-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    To move or burst forth.
  2. 2
    To move or burst forth.
  3. 3
    To move or burst forth.
  4. 4
    To move or burst forth.
  5. 5
    To move or burst forth.
  6. 6
    To move or burst forth.
  7. 7
    To move or burst forth.
  8. 8
    To move or burst forth.
  9. 9
    To move or burst forth.
  10. 10
    To cause to spring (all senses).
  11. 11
    To cause to spring (all senses).
  12. 12
    To leap over.
  13. 13
    To breed with, to impregnate.
  14. 14
    To wet, to moisten.
  15. 15
    To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.
  16. 16
    To go off.
  17. 17
    To crack.
  18. 18
    To come upon and flush out.
  19. 19
    To catch in an illegal act or compromising position.
  20. 20
    To begin.
  21. 21
    To put bad money into circulation.
  22. 22
    To tell, to share.
  23. 23
    To free from imprisonment, especially by facilitating an illegal escape.
  24. 24
    To be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.
  25. 25
    To build, to form the initial curve of.
  26. 26
    To extend, to curve.
  27. 27
    To turn a vessel using a spring attached to its anchor cable.
  28. 28
    To pay or spend a certain sum, to yield.
  29. 29
    To raise an offered price.
  30. 30
    Alternative form of sprain.
  31. 31
    Alternative form of strain.
  32. 32
    To act as a spring: to strongly rebound.
  33. 33
    To equip with springs, especially (of vehicles) to equip with a suspension.
  34. 34
    to inspire, to motivate.
  35. 35
    To deform owing to excessive pressure, to become warped; to intentionally deform in order to position and then straighten in place.
  36. 36
    To swell with milk or pregnancy.
  37. 37
    To sound, to play.
  38. 38
    To find or get enough food during springtime.

Etymology

From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sper- (“to jerk, twitch, snap, shove”). Cognates * Saterland Frisian springe * West Frisian springe * Dutch springen * German Low German springen * German springen * Danish springe * Swedish springa * Norwegian springe * Faroese springa * Icelandic springa (“to burst, explode”). Other possible cognates include Lithuanian spreñgti (“to push (in)”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”), Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”), Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”). Some newer senses derived from the noun.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: psring,spirng,sppring,sprign,springg,sprinng,sprnig,sprring,srping,sspring

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for spring

Misspelling Variants of "spring"

psring6spirng6sppring7sprign6springg7sprinng7sprnig6sprring7
Misspelling Variants of "spring"

Frequency rank: #1,286 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "spring"?
"spring" is spelled S-P-R-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈspɹɪŋ/.
What does "spring" mean?
As a verb, "spring" means: To move or burst forth.
What words are commonly confused with "spring"?
"spring" is commonly confused with "swing", "sting", "suing". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "spring"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spring" is /ˈspɹɪŋ/. 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 "spring"?
From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to... 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.