amateur
/ˈæ.mə.tə/
"amateur" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amateur” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,913 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,913
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A lover of something.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | amateur |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæ.mə.tə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,913 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “amateur” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for amateur is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæ.mə.tə/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,913 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for amateur, with forms such as "aamteur", "amaetur", and "amateru". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Amadeus", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French amateur, from Latin amātor (“lover”), from amāre (“to love”). The correct English form is amateur, spelled A-M-A-T-E-U-R.
Definition
- 1A lover of something.
- 2A person attached to a particular pursuit, study, science, or art (such as music or painting), especially one who cultivates any study, interest, taste, or attachment without engaging in it professionally.
- 3Someone who is unqualified or insufficiently skillful.
Etymology
Borrowed from French amateur, from Latin amātor (“lover”), from amāre (“to love”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aamteur,amaetur,amateru,amateurr,amatteur,amatuer,ammateur,amtaeur,maateur
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of amateur - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “amateur”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-M-A-T-E-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæ.mə.tə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Amadeus” - see the side-by-side comparison. amateur vs Amadeus
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English 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.