awash
/əˈwɒʃ/
"awash" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“awash” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,739 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #38,739
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Washed by the waves or tide (of a rock or strip of shore, or of an anchor, etc., when flush with the surface of the water, so that the waves break over it); covered with water.
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 | awash |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈwɒʃ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #38,739 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “awash” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for awash is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈwɒʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #38,739 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for awash, with forms such as "aawsh", "awahs", and "awashh". 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 14 confusable-pair relationships, "AWS", "away", "aways", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a- + wash. The correct English form is awash, spelled A-W-A-S-H.
Definition
- 1Washed by the waves or tide (of a rock or strip of shore, or of an anchor, etc., when flush with the surface of the water, so that the waves break over it); covered with water.
- 2Covered, overspread (with or in something).
Etymology
From a- + wash.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aawsh,awahs,awashh,awassh,awsah,awwash,waash
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of awash - 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 “awash”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-W-A-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈwɒʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “AWS” - see the side-by-side comparison. awash vs AWS
- 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.