amen
/(ˌ)ɑːˈmɛn/
"amen" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amen” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,880 in English word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #7,880
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - At the end of religious prayers: so be it.
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 | amen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /(ˌ)ɑːˈmɛn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,880 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “amen” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for amen is 4 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /(ˌ)ɑːˈmɛn/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,880 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for amen, with forms such as "aemn", "amenn", and "ammen". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "an", "are", "Ann", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Biblical Hebrew אָמֵןbor. Koine Greek ᾱ̓μήν (āmḗn)bor. Ecclesiastical Latin āmēnder. Old English āmen Middle English amen English amen Inherited from Middle English amen, from Old English āmen, from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Gre… The correct English form is amen, spelled A-M-E-N.
Definition
- 1At the end of religious prayers: so be it.
- 2Used to indicate emphatic agreement.
Etymology
Etymology tree Biblical Hebrew אָמֵןbor. Koine Greek ᾱ̓μήν (āmḗn)bor. Ecclesiastical Latin āmēnder. Old English āmen Middle English amen English amen Inherited from Middle English amen, from Old English āmen, from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, verily”) (cognate with Arabic آمِينَ (ʔāmīna), Classical Syriac ܐܡܝܢ (ʾāmên)). In Old English, it was used only at the end of the Gospels. Elsewhere, it was translated as sōþlīċe! (“truly”, “indeed!”), swā hit is (“so it is”), and sīe! (“[so] be it!”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aemn,amenn,ammen,amne
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of amen - 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 “amen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-M-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /(ˌ)ɑːˈmɛn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “an” - see the side-by-side comparison. amen vs an
- 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.