argument
/ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/
"argument" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“argument” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,282 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,282
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
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 | argument |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #2,282 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “argument” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for argument is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,282 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for argument, with forms such as "agrument", "arggument", and "argmuent". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "augment", "armament", "arguments", 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 Latin arguō Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-məntom Latin -mentum Latin argūmentumder. Anglo-Norman arguementbor. Middle English argument English argument From Middle English argument, from Anglo-Norman an… The correct English form is argument, spelled A-R-G-U-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
- 2A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
- 3A process of reasoning; argumentation.
- 4An abstract or summary of the content of a literary work such as a book, a poem or a major section such as a chapter, included in the work before the content itself; (figuratively) the contents themselves.
- 5A verbal dispute; a quarrel.
- 6Any dispute, altercation, or collision.
- 7Any of the phrases that bear a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause.
- 8The independent variable of a function.
- 9The phase of a complex number.
- 10A quantity on which the calculation of another quantity depends.
- 11A value, or a reference to a value, passed to a function.
- 12A parameter at a function call; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter.
- 13A matter in question; a business in hand.
- 14The subject matter of an artistic representation, discourse, or writing; a theme or topic.
- 15Evidence, proof; (countable) an item of such evidence or proof.
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin arguō Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-məntom Latin -mentum Latin argūmentumder. Anglo-Norman arguementbor. Middle English argument English argument From Middle English argument, from Anglo-Norman and Old French arguement, from Latin argumentum. The English word is analysable as argue + -ment. Doublet of argumentum. Displaced native Old English racu and ġeflit.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: agrument,arggument,argmuent,arguemnt,argumennt,argumentt,argumetn,argumment,argumnet,arrgument,arugment,ragument
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of argument - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “argument”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-R-G-U-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “augment” - see the side-by-side comparison. argument vs augment
- 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.