---
title: Did You Mean
description: When did_you_mean returns a suggestion, what shape the suggestion takes on each endpoint, and why null is the normal value.
---

`did_you_mean` returns a corrected spelling when the domain looks like a likely misspelling of a well-known one, such as `gmial.com` for `gmail.com`.

The field is returned by the [domain](/docs/api/domain-endpoint) and [email](/docs/api/email-endpoint) endpoints.

## The shape of the suggestion

Each endpoint returns the correction at the level it was asked about:

| Request | `did_you_mean` |
|---------|----------------|
| `GET /domain/gmial.com`       | `"gmail.com"` |
| `GET /email/jane@gmial.com`   | `"jane@gmail.com"` |

The email endpoint corrects the domain only and returns the local part exactly as it was submitted, so the value can be shown back to the person as a complete address.

## When the value is null

`null` means no suggestion, and that is the normal case. A correction is only offered when the domain is close to a well-known one. A domain that is simply unfamiliar returns `null` rather than a guess at what it might have been, so `null` is not evidence that the domain is fine, only that it does not resemble anything well known.

## Public domains never get a suggestion

`did_you_mean` is always `null` when `public_domain` is `true`. An address on a public mailbox provider is a real deliverable address rather than a misspelling of something else, so no correction is offered for one even where the name resembles another provider's. See [Public Domains](/docs/concepts/public-domains).

## A suggestion is not a verdict

A domain can be real, registered, and working, and still resemble a well-known one closely enough to produce a suggestion. Every other field in the response describes the domain that was actually submitted, not the suggested one. Getting signals for the suggested domain means making a second request for it.