amend
/əˈmɛnd/
"amend" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amend” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,854 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #13,854
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make better; improve.
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 | amend |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈmɛnd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #13,854 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “amend” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for amend is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈmɛnd/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,854 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for amend, with forms such as "aemnd", "amedn", and "amendd". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "and", "amid", "Ames", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English amenden, from Old French amender, from Latin ēmendō (“free from faults”), from ex (“from, out of”) + mendum (“fault”). Compare aphetic mend. Doublet of emend. The correct English form is amend, spelled A-M-E-N-D.
Definition
- 1To make better; improve.
- 2To become better.
- 3To heal (someone sick); to cure (a disease etc.).
- 4To be healed, to be cured, to recover (from an illness).
- 5To make a formal alteration (in legislation, a report, etc.) by adding, deleting, or rephrasing.
Etymology
From Middle English amenden, from Old French amender, from Latin ēmendō (“free from faults”), from ex (“from, out of”) + mendum (“fault”). Compare aphetic mend. Doublet of emend.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aemnd,amedn,amendd,amennd,ammend,amned,maend
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of amend - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “amend”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-M-E-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈmɛnd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “and” - see the side-by-side comparison. amend vs and
- 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.