arm

/ɑːm/

//ɑːm// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"arm" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“arm” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,887) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,887
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The portion of the upper human appendage, from the shoulder to the wrist and sometimes including the hand.

Corpus desk

Index EN-arm · arm · English

arm · rank #1,887 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,887
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Angeles

Nearest frequency peer: Angeles (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “arm”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “arm” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

arm vs as
33% similar
arm vs at
33% similar
arm vs aw
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for arm
PropertyValue
Headwordarm
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɑːm/
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,887
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “arm” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). arm lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for arm is neighbouring look-alikes ("as", "at", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ɑːm/. Frequency #1,887 among 3,931 “A” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for arm in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "at", "aw", 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 Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm From Middle English arm, from Old English earm (Anglian arm), from Proto-West Germanic *arm… The correct English form is arm, spelled A-R-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The portion of the upper human appendage, from the shoulder to the wrist and sometimes including the hand.
  2. 2
    The extended portion of the upper limb, from the shoulder to the elbow.
  3. 3
    A limb, or locomotive or prehensile organ, of an invertebrate animal.
  4. 4
    The part of a piece of clothing that covers the arm.
  5. 5
    A long, narrow, more or less rigid part of an object extending from the main part or centre of the object, such as the armrest of an armchair, a crane, a pair of spectacles or a pair of compasses.
  6. 6
    A bay or inlet off a main body of water.
  7. 7
    A branch of an organization.
  8. 8
    Power; might; strength; support.
  9. 9
    A pitcher
  10. 10
    One of the two parts of a chromosome.
  11. 11
    A group of patients in a medical trial.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how arm appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She stood with her right arm extended and her palm forward to indicate “Stop!”
  2. When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm From Middle English arm, from Old English earm (Anglian arm), from Proto-West Germanic *arm, from Proto-Germanic *armaz (“arm”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rmos (“a fitting, joint; arm, forequarter”), a suffixed form of *h₂er- (“to join, fit together”). Cognates Akin to Dutch arm, German Arm, Yiddish אָרעם (orem), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish arm. Indo-European cognates include Latin armus (“the uppermost part of the arm, shoulder”), Bulgarian рамо (ramo), Polish ramię, Serbo-Croatian rȁme, Armenian արմունկ (armunk, “elbow”), Ancient Greek ἁρμός (harmós, “joint, shoulder”) and ἅρμα (hárma, “wagon, chariot”), Avestan 𐬀𐬭𐬨𐬀 (arma), Old Persian [script needed] (arma).

Synonyms

arm

This word in other languages

brazo(Español)bras(Français)Arm(Deutsch)braço(Português)

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "arm"?
"arm" is spelled A-R-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ɑːm/.
What does "arm" mean?
As a noun, "arm" means: The portion of the upper human appendage, from the shoulder to the wrist and sometimes including the hand.
What words are commonly confused with "arm"?
"arm" is commonly confused with "as", "at", "aw". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "arm"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "arm" is /ɑːm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "arm"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm From Middle English arm, from Old English earm (Anglian arm), from Proto-West Ger... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "arm", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

bay#1,889web#1,883lee#1,905mad#1,868

What to do next

You've looked up "arm". Here's where to go from here.

  • "arm" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "as". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #1,887 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list