sputum
/ˈspjutəm/
"sputum" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sputum” is an uncommon English word, ranked #63,267 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #63,267
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Matter coughed up and expectorated from the mouth, composed of saliva and discharges from the respiratory passages such as mucus, phlegm or pus.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sputum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈspjutəm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #63,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sputum” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sputum is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈspjutəm/. Corpus data places it at rank #63,267 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Matter coughed up and expectorated from the mouth, composed of saliva and discharges from the respiratory passages such as mucus, phlegm or pus.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sputum, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin, from Latin sputum (“that which is spit out, spittle”), from spuere (“to spit”). The correct English form is sputum, spelled S-P-U-T-U-M.
Definition
- 1Matter coughed up and expectorated from the mouth, composed of saliva and discharges from the respiratory passages such as mucus, phlegm or pus.
Etymology
From New Latin, from Latin sputum (“that which is spit out, spittle”), from spuere (“to spit”).
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); 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
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Using “sputum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-U-T-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈspjutəm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.