IMHO

abbrev

The verdict

“IMHO” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #27,778 in German word frequency and used as an abbreviation.

#27,778
frequency rank, German
4
letters
5
tracked misspellings
19
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Abkürzung für in my humble opinion - meiner bescheidenen Meinung nach oder in my honest opinion - meiner ehrlichen Meinung nach

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

IMHO vs io
0% similar
IMHO vs ISO
50% similar
IMHO vs IMO
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for IMHO
PropertyValue
HeadwordIMHO
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters4
Frequency rank#27,778
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “IMHO” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). IMHO lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for IMHO is 4 letters long, classified as an abbreviation. Corpus data places it at rank #27,778 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Abkürzung für in my humble opinion - meiner bescheidenen Meinung nach oder in my honest opinion - meiner ehrlichen Meinung nach".

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for IMHO, with forms such as "ihmo", "imhho", and "immho". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "io", "ISO", "IMO", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is IMHO, spelled I-M-H-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Abkürzung für in my humble opinion - meiner bescheidenen Meinung nach oder in my honest opinion - meiner ehrlichen Meinung nach

Synonyms

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ihmo,imhho,immho,imoh,miho

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of IMHO - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ihmo2imhho1immho1imoh2miho2
Edit distance from "IMHO"

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "IMHO"?
"IMHO" is spelled I-M-H-O.
What does "IMHO" mean?
As an abbreviation, "IMHO" means: Abkürzung für in my humble opinion - meiner bescheidenen Meinung nach oder in my honest opinion - meiner ehrlichen Meinung nach
What words are commonly confused with "IMHO"?
"IMHO" is commonly confused with "io", "ISO", "IMO". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "IMHO" come from?
"IMHO" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “IMHO”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is I-M-H-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “io” - see the side-by-side comparison. IMHO vs io
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list