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sputtering

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

Letters

10 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "sputtering", 10-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 "sputtering" 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 "sputtering" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

sputtering is aEnglishnoun. It means: A noise that sputters. Often confused with stuttering and scattering.

Key facts for sputtering
PropertyValue
Headwordsputtering
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#35,533
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for sputtering is 10 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #35,533 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 14 documented wrong-spelling variants for sputtering, with forms such as "psuttering", "spputtering", and "sptutering". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "stuttering", "scattering", "shattering", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is sputtering, spelled S-P-U-T-T-E-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
    A noise that sputters.
  2. 2
    The ejection of atoms from the surface of a solid or liquid following bombardment with ions, atoms or molecules; used to prepare a thin layer of material on an object.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: psuttering,spputtering,sptutering,sputering,sputetring,sputteirng,sputterign,sputteringg,sputterinng,sputternig,sputterring,sputtreing,ssputtering,supttering

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for sputtering

Misspelling Variants of "sputtering"

psuttering10spputtering11sptutering10sputering9sputetring10sputteirng10sputterign10sputteringg11
Misspelling Variants of "sputtering"

Frequency rank: #35,533 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sputtering"?
"sputtering" is spelled S-P-U-T-T-E-R-I-N-G.
What does "sputtering" mean?
As a noun, "sputtering" means: A noise that sputters.
What words are commonly confused with "sputtering"?
"sputtering" is commonly confused with "stuttering", "scattering", "shattering". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "sputtering" come from?
"sputtering" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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:

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