Christmas
/ˈkɹɪsməs/
"christmas" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Christmas” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,297 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #1,297
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A festival or holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian, pagan, and secular customs, which in Western Christianity is celebrated on December...
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 | Christmas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɹɪsməs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #1,297 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Christmas” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Christmas is 9 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɹɪsməs/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,297 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for Christmas, with forms such as "cchristmas", "chhristmas", and "chirstmas". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Xmas", "Christa", "Christian", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The proper noun is derived from Middle English Cristemasse, Criste-mas (“Christmas Day; season of Christmas; Christmas festivities”) [and other forms], from Old English Cristes mæsse (“Christmas”, literally “Christ’s mass”), from Crist (“Christ”) + -es (pos… The correct English form is Christmas, spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S.
Definition
- 1A festival or holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian, pagan, and secular customs, which in Western Christianity is celebrated on December 25 (Christmas Day) in most places.
- 2Ellipsis of Christmas season (“the period of time before and after Christmas Day, during which people prepare for and celebrate Christmas”); Christmastime.
- 3A number of places in the United States:
- 4A number of places in the United States:
- 5A number of places in the United States:
- 6A number of places in the United States:
- 7A surname.
Etymology
The proper noun is derived from Middle English Cristemasse, Criste-mas (“Christmas Day; season of Christmas; Christmas festivities”) [and other forms], from Old English Cristes mæsse (“Christmas”, literally “Christ’s mass”), from Crist (“Christ”) + -es (possessive marker) + mæsse (“a mass (celebration of the Eucharist)”). The English word is analysable as Christ + -mas (suffix denoting a holiday or sacred day). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Kristmisse (“Christmas”), West Frisian Krystmis (“Christmas”), Dutch Kerstmis (“Christmas”), German Low German Karstmis (“Christmas”). The noun, adjective, and verb are derived from the proper noun. Adjective etymology 1 sense 1 (“red and green in color”) refers to these colors being traditionally associated with Christmas.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchristmas,chhristmas,chirstmas,chrismtas,chrisstmas,christams,christmass,christmmas,christmsa,christtmas,chritsmas,chrristmas,chrsitmas,crhistmas,hcristmas
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Christmas - 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
How do you spell "Christmas"?
What does "Christmas" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Christmas"?
How do you pronounce "Christmas"?
What is the origin of the word "Christmas"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Christmas”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɹɪsməs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Xmas” - see the side-by-side comparison. Christmas vs Xmas
- 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.