Balaam
/ˈbeɪləm/
"balaam" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Balaam” is uncommon English (frequency #75,634 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,634
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A diviner in the Torah.
Corpus desk
Index EN-balaam · Balaam · English
Balaam · rank #75,634 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #75,634
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 31,241
- PHOTO-FINISH baling
Nearest frequency peer: baling (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Balaam”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- badder
badder
24,369 corpus weight
- Balaam
Balaam
24,367 corpus weight
- baling
baling
24,366 corpus weight
- balla
balla
24,365 corpus weight
- barite
barite
24,361 corpus weight
- baronial
baronial
24,359 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Balaam” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Balaam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪləm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #75,634 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Balaam” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Balaam is uncommon English at frequency #75,634 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈbeɪləm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Balaam doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hebrew בִּלְעָם (bil'am). The correct English form is Balaam, spelled B-A-L-A-A-M.
Definition
- 1A diviner in the Torah.
- 2A surname.
Etymology
From Hebrew בִּלְעָם (bil'am).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Balaam", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.