abs

/æbz/

//æbz// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"abs" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“abs” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #8,749) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#8,749
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Abbreviation of abstract.

Corpus desk

Index EN-abs · abs · English

abs · rank #8,749 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,749
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH abundance

Nearest frequency peer: abundance (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “abs”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “abs” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

abs vs as
67% similar
abs vs at
33% similar
abs vs an
33% similar

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

Key facts for abs
PropertyValue
Headwordabs
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/æbz/
Letters3
Frequency rank#8,749
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “abs”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).abslands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “abundance” (#8,750), “zip” (#8,747), “advancing” (#8,751). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “abs” is #8,749. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for abs is neighbouring look-alikes ("as", "at", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /æbz/. Frequency #8,749 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Gloss: "Abbreviation of abstract.".

No misspelling variants are generated for abs in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "at", "an", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is abs, spelled A-B-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Abbreviation of abstract.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "abs"?
"abs" is spelled A-B-S. The IPA pronunciation is /æbz/.
What does "abs" mean?
As an adjective, "abs" means: Abbreviation of abstract.
What words are commonly confused with "abs"?
"abs" is commonly confused with "as", "at", "an". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "abs"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "abs" is /æbz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "abs" come from?
"abs" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "abs", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

zip#8,747ahh#8,752woo#8,745ant#8,754

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list