spring to mind

verb

"spring-to-mind" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To appear suddenly in one's thoughts, often as an example of something.

Corpus desk

Index EN-spring-to-mind · spring to mind · English

spring to mind · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 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 spring to mind
PropertyValue
Headwordspring to mind
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “spring to mind” in English

spring to mindranks 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

spring to mind is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To appear suddenly in one's thoughts, often as an example of something.".

No misspelling variants are generated for spring to mind in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is spring to mind, spelled S-P-R-I-N-G- -T-O- -M-I-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    To appear suddenly in one's thoughts, often as an example of something.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Two good reasons spring to mind at once.

Synonyms

come to mindleap to mind

This word in other languages

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 "spring to mind"?
"spring to mind" is spelled S-P-R-I-N-G- -T-O- -M-I-N-D.
What does "spring to mind" mean?
As a verb, "spring to mind" means: To appear suddenly in one's thoughts, often as an example of something.
What language does "spring to mind" come from?
"spring to mind" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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