stick out like a sore thumb
"stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb" is a 22-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stick out like a sore thumb” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 27
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To be very noticeably (and undesirably or humorously) different; to be prominently out of place; to be particularly obtrusive or conspicuous (usually unintentionally); to attract unwanted attention...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stick out like a sore thumb |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 27 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stick out like a sore thumb” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stick out like a sore thumb is 27 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To be very noticeably (and undesirably or humorously) different; to be prominently out of place; to be particularly obtrusive or conspicuous (usually unintentionally); to attract unwanted attention...".
No generated misspelling entries exist for stick out like a sore thumb in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is stick out like a sore thumb, spelled S-T-I-C-K- -O-U-T- -L-I-K-E- -A- -S-O-R-E- -T-H-U-M-B.
Definition
- 1To be very noticeably (and undesirably or humorously) different; to be prominently out of place; to be particularly obtrusive or conspicuous (usually unintentionally); to attract unwanted attention or notice.
Synonyms
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
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Using “stick out like a sore thumb”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-C-K- -O-U-T- -L-I-K-E- -A- -S-O-R-E- -T-H-U-M-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.