To sort means to organize things into groups based on what they have in common. When you sort your Halloween candy, you might put all the chocolate bars in one pile, the gummy candies in another, and the hard candies in a third pile. Libraries sort books by subject and author so readers can find what they need.

The word can also mean a type or kind of something. If someone asks, “What sort of pizza do you like?” they want to know which kind you prefer: pepperoni, cheese, or vegetable. When you say, “She's the sort of person who always helps others,” you're describing what type of person she is.

In everyday conversation, people use sort of (or sorta) to mean “kind of” or “somewhat”: “I'm sort of tired” means you're a little tired but not exhausted. This informal usage suggests something isn't completely true, just partially.

When data or information gets sorted on a computer, it gets arranged in a useful order: alphabetically, by date, by size, or by importance. Sorting makes information easier to understand and use, whether you're organizing baseball cards, files on a computer, or ideas in your mind.