with a grain of salt
"with-a-grain-of-salt" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“with a grain of salt” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - With a little common sense and skepticism.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | with a grain of salt |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “with a grain of salt” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
with a grain of salt is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "With a little common sense and skepticism.".
Zero misspellings are on record for with a grain of salt in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Latin cum grānō salis , literally with a grain of salt, figuratively with a bit of common sense (from Pliny’s Pompey’s discovery of an antidote against poison to be taken with a grain of salt). The correct English form is with a grain of salt, spelled W-I-T-H- -A- -G-R-A-I-N- -O-F- -S-A-L-T.
Definition
- 1With a little common sense and skepticism.
Etymology
Calque of Latin cum grānō salis , literally with a grain of salt, figuratively with a bit of common sense (from Pliny’s Pompey’s discovery of an antidote against poison to be taken with a grain of salt).
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 “with a grain of salt”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-I-T-H- -A- -G-R-A-I-N- -O-F- -S-A-L-T - 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.