amiss
/əˈmɪs/adjective, adverb
amiss is spelled A-M-I-S-S: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,549th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, amiss means “Wrong; faulty; out of order; improper or otherwise incorrect” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in amiss?
| Letters | 5: A-M-I-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 31,549th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is amiss?
Amiss appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,549th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce amiss?
- US /əˈmɪs/
Amiss has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-amiss.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with amiss?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as amiss from its last stressed vowel (/ɪs/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of amiss
- more amiss comparative
- most amiss superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does amiss mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Wrong; faulty; out of order; improper or otherwise incorrect.
He suspected something was amiss.
adverb
- 1
archaicWrongly; mistakenly
Then Hrefna said she would coif herself with it, and Thurid said she had better, and Hrefna did so. When Kalf saw that he gave her to understand that she had done amiss; and bade her take it off at her swiftest. "For that is the one thing t
- 2
Astray.
- 3
Imperfectly.
noun
- 1
obsoleteFault; wrong; an evil act, a bad deed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Amiss in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense wrong; faulty; out of order; improper or otherwise incorrect – see also wrong:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | errado |
| Spanish | estar mal, fuera de lugar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does amiss come from?
From a- + miss.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).