assassin

/əˈsæsɪn/

//əˈsæsɪn// noun

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

"assassin" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“assassin” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #11,835. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,835
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.

Corpus desk

Index EN-assassin · assassin · English

assassin · rank #11,835 · 8 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,835
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH assign

Nearest frequency peer: assign (+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 “assassin”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “assassin” 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).

assassin vs assessing
78% similar
assassin vs assassins
89% similar

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

Key facts for assassin
PropertyValue
Headwordassassin
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈsæsɪn/
Letters8
Frequency rank#11,835
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “assassin”

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).assassinlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “assign” (#11,836), “apologise” (#11,833), “Aston” (#11,837). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “assassin” is #11,835. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around assassin (IPA /əˈsæsɪn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,835 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for assassin, with forms such as "asassin", "asasssin", and "assasin". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "assessing", "assassins", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic أَسَاسِيِّين (ʔasāsiyyīn, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users; low-lives”). The mathematical sense … The correct English form is assassin, spelled A-S-S-A-S-S-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
  2. 2
    Any ruthless killer.
  3. 3
    A member of the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community of the Alamut Period.
  4. 4
    An associated prime of a module.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The hand that held the bond of so many jarring interests lay powerless beneath the pall. The perils of war had been about him, and the midnight assassin had watched his path; yet he died quietly in his bed.
  2. What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause can ever be stilled by an assassin’s bullet.

Etymology

From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic أَسَاسِيِّين (ʔasāsiyyīn, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users; low-lives”). The mathematical sense was introduced by Bourbaki, playing on the notation operatorname Ass(M) and the fact that an associated prime is the annihilator of an element, and so is said to kill that element.

This word in other languages

asesino(Español)assassin(Français)Assassine(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • asassin
  • asasssin
  • assasin
  • assasisn
  • assassinn
  • assassni
  • asssasin
  • sasassin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

asassin1asasssin2assasin1assasisn2assassinn1assassni2asssasin2sasassin2
Edit distance from "assassin"

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 "assassin"?
"assassin" is spelled A-S-S-A-S-S-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈsæsɪn/.
What does "assassin" mean?
As a noun, "assassin" means: Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
What words are commonly confused with "assassin"?
"assassin" is commonly confused with "assessing", "assassins". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "assassin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "assassin" is /əˈsæsɪn/. 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 "assassin"?
From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic أَسَاسِيِّين (ʔasāsiyyīn, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users; low-lives”). The mathemati... 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 "assassin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

backlash#11,839balloons#11,840casually#11,848Courtney#11,856

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

cliffs8 variantsunsafe8 variantsdemise8 variantssavior8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list