army

/ˈɑː.mi/

//ˈɑː.mi// noun

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

"army" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“army” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #921. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#921
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.

Corpus desk

Index EN-army · army · English

army · rank #921 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #921
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH writing

Nearest frequency peer: writing (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “army”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “army” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

army vs ay
50% similar
army vs art
50% similar
army vs ATM
0% similar

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

Key facts for army
PropertyValue
Headwordarmy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɑː.mi/
Letters4
Frequency rank#921
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “army”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).armylands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “writing” (#920), “Australia” (#922), “whose” (#919). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “army” is #921. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around army (IPA /ˈɑː.mi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #921 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for army, with forms such as "amry", "armmy", and "armyy". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ay", "art", "ATM", 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-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rmosder. Latin arma Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin armō ▲ Proto-Indo-Europe… The correct English form is army, spelled A-R-M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
  2. 2
    A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
  3. 3
    A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
  4. 4
    The governmental agency in charge of a state's army.
  5. 5
    A large group of people working toward the same purpose.
  6. 6
    A large group of social animals working toward the same purpose.
  7. 7
    Any multitude.
  8. 8
    The military as a whole.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. An army never can be commanded or controlled by civilians.
  2. The army was sent in to quell the uprising.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rmosder. Latin arma Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin armō ▲ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin armātus Anglo-Norman armeebor. Middle English armee English army From (1386) Middle English armee, borrowed from Old French armee (cf. modern French armée), from Medieval Latin armāta (“armed force”), a noun taken from the past participle of Latin armāre (“to arm”), itself related to arma (“tools, arms”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to join, fit together”). Doublet of armada. Displaced native Old English here and fierd.

Synonyms

hosthere

This word in other languages

ejército(Español)armée(Français)Heer(Deutsch)exército(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amry
  • armmy
  • armyy
  • arrmy
  • arym
  • ramy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of army - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

amry2armmy1armyy1arrmy1arym2ramy2
Edit distance from "army"

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

How do you spell "army"?
"army" is spelled A-R-M-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɑː.mi/.
What does "army" mean?
As a noun, "army" means: A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
What words are commonly confused with "army"?
"army" is commonly confused with "ay", "art", "ATM". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "army"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "army" is /ˈɑː.mi/. 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 "army"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rmosder. Latin arma Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin armō ▲ Proto-I... 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 "army", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

goal#925huge#927safe#914okay#930

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

voice6 variantsways6 variantsbelow6 variantsmark6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list