Bahamas
/bəˈhɑː.məz/
"bahamas" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Bahamas” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,276 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #14,276
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An archipelago and country in the Caribbean. Official name: Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
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 | Bahamas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /bəˈhɑː.məz/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #14,276 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Bahamas” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Bahamas is 7 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bəˈhɑː.məz/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,276 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An archipelago and country in the Caribbean. Official name: Commonwealth of The Bahamas.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Bahamas, with forms such as "abhamas", "baahmas", and "bahaams". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "bananas", "Bahamian", "Bahama", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Disputed; probably from Spanish baja mar (“shallow sea”) or Taíno ba ha ma (“big upper middle land”), via Spanish. The correct English form is Bahamas, spelled B-A-H-A-M-A-S.
Definition
- 1An archipelago and country in the Caribbean. Official name: Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Etymology
Disputed; probably from Spanish baja mar (“shallow sea”) or Taíno ba ha ma (“big upper middle land”), via Spanish.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abhamas,baahmas,bahaams,bahamass,bahammas,bahamsa,bahhamas,bahmaas,bbahamas,bhaamas
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Bahamas - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "Bahamas"?
What does "Bahamas" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Bahamas"?
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Using “Bahamas”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-H-A-M-A-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bəˈhɑː.məz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bananas” - see the side-by-side comparison. Bahamas vs bananas
- 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.