ashamed
/əˈʃeɪmd/
"ashamed" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ashamed” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,437 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #6,437
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Feeling shame or guilt.
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 | ashamed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈʃeɪmd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #6,437 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ashamed” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ashamed is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈʃeɪmd/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,437 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Feeling shame or guilt.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for ashamed, with forms such as "ahsamed", "asahmed", and "ashaemd". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "assumed", "Ahmed", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ashamed, aschamed, from Old English āsċamod, past participle of Old English āsċamian (“to be ashamed”), equivalent to a- + shame + -ed. The correct English form is ashamed, spelled A-S-H-A-M-E-D.
Definition
- 1Feeling shame or guilt.
Etymology
From Middle English ashamed, aschamed, from Old English āsċamod, past participle of Old English āsċamian (“to be ashamed”), equivalent to a- + shame + -ed.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahsamed,asahmed,ashaemd,ashamde,ashamedd,ashammed,ashhamed,ashmaed,asshamed,sahamed
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ashamed - 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 “ashamed”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-H-A-M-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈʃeɪmd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “assumed” - see the side-by-side comparison. ashamed vs assumed
- 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.