cham
/kæm/
"cham" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cham” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #41,041. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #41,041
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Archaic spelling of khan.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cham · cham · English
cham · rank #41,041 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #41,041
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cellist
Nearest frequency peer: cellist (-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 “cham”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- carrion
carrion
58,964 corpus weight
- casks
casks
58,963 corpus weight
- cellist
cellist
58,961 corpus weight
- cham
cham
58,960 corpus weight
- chard
chard
58,959 corpus weight
- charmer
charmer
58,958 corpus weight
What this shows “cham” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | cham |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kæm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #41,041 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cham”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around cham (IPA /kæm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #41,041 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for cham, with forms such as "cahm", "ccham", and "chamm". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CM", "CIA", "cum", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French cham, from Ottoman Turkish خان (han) (see there for more). The correct English form is cham, spelled C-H-A-M.
Definition
- 1Archaic spelling of khan.
- 2An autocrat or dominant critic, especially Samuel Johnson.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cham appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And ſince we haue arriu’d in Scythia, Beſides rich preſents from the puiſant Cham, UUe haue his highneſſe letters to commaund Aide and aſſiſtance if we ſtand in need.
But Baiothnoi, chief captain of the Tartarian army (for they were not admitted to speak with the great cham himself), cried quits with this friar, outvying him with the greatness and divinity of their cham; and sent back by them a blunt letter[…]
Etymology
From French cham, from Ottoman Turkish خان (han) (see there for more).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cahm
- ccham
- chamm
- chham
- chma
- hcam
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cham - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "cham"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cham", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).