alm

/ɑːm/

//ɑːm// noun

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

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

The verdict

“alm” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #43,024) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#43,024
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something given to the poor as charity: a singular gift of alms.

Corpus desk

Index EN-alm · alm · English

alm · rank #43,024 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,024
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH alkaloids

Nearest frequency peer: alkaloids (-2 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 neighbourhood for “alm”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “alm” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

alm vs as
33% similar
alm vs at
33% similar
alm vs an
33% similar

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

Key facts for alm
PropertyValue
Headwordalm
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɑːm/
Letters3
Frequency rank#43,024
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “alm” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).almlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “alkaloids” (#43,022), “Amato” (#43,026), “anagram” (#43,027). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for alm is neighbouring look-alikes ("as", "at", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ɑːm/. Frequency #43,024 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Gloss: "Something given to the poor as charity: a singular gift of alms.".

Zero misspellings are on record for alm in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "at", "an", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from alms. The correct English form is alm, spelled A-L-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Something given to the poor as charity: a singular gift of alms.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how alm appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. An alm to the poor is a work of charity. Una limosna a los pobres es obra de caridad.
  2. If in doubt, you rarely go wrong giving an alm to the poor, and you might feel better about it.

Etymology

Back-formation from alms.

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 "alm"?
"alm" is spelled A-L-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ɑːm/.
What does "alm" mean?
As a noun, "alm" means: Something given to the poor as charity: a singular gift of alms.
What words are commonly confused with "alm"?
"alm" 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 "alm"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "alm" is /ɑːm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "alm"?
Back-formation from alms. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "alm", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Xue#43,001wid#42,993VCU#42,982tss#42,965

What to do next

You've looked up "alm". Here's where to go from here.

  • "alm" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "as". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #43,024 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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