come

/kʌm/

//kʌm// verb

"come" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“come” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #161 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#161
frequency rank, English
4
letters
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To move nearer to the point of perspective.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

come vs cop
50% similar
come vs con
50% similar
come vs cow
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for come
PropertyValue
Headwordcome
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/kʌm/
Letters4
Frequency rank#161
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “come” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). come lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for come is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kʌm/. Corpus data places it at rank #161 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 25 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for come, with forms such as "ccome", "cmoe", and "coem". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cop", "con", "cow", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt (“to step; to arrive”), from *gʷem- (“to come, step”). Cognates Cognate from Proto-Germanic… The correct English form is come, spelled C-O-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To move nearer to the point of perspective.
  2. 2
    To move nearer to the point of perspective.
  3. 3
    To move nearer to the point of perspective.
  4. 4
    To move nearer to the point of perspective.
  5. 5
    To move nearer to the point of perspective.
  6. 6
    To move nearer to the point of perspective.
  7. 7
    To arrive.
  8. 8
    To appear; to manifest itself; to cause a reaction by manifesting.
  9. 9
    To begin (to have an opinion or feeling).
  10. 10
    To do something by chance or unintentionally.
  11. 11
    To take a position relative to something else in a sequence.
  12. 12
    To achieve orgasm; to cum; to ejaculate.
  13. 13
    To become butter by being churned.
  14. 14
    To approach or reach a state of being or accomplishment.
  15. 15
    To take a particular approach or point of view in regard to something.
  16. 16
    To become, to turn out to be (often in set phrases and certain collocations).
  17. 17
    To be supplied, or made available; to exist.
  18. 18
    To carry through; to succeed in.
  19. 19
    To happen.
  20. 20
    To have as an origin, originate.
  21. 21
    To have as an origin, originate.
  22. 22
    To have as an origin, originate.
  23. 23
    To have as an origin, originate.
  24. 24
    To germinate.
  25. 25
    To pretend to be; to behave in the manner of; to assume the role of.

Etymology

From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt (“to step; to arrive”), from *gʷem- (“to come, step”). Cognates Cognate from Proto-Germanic with Scots cum (“to come”), Yola come, coome, cum (“to come”), North Frisian kaame, kame, keem, kem, kum, kååme, käme (“to come”), Saterland Frisian kume, kuume (“to come”), West Frisian komme (“to come”), Alemannic German cha, cheemen, cheme, cho, chomu, chéeme (“to come”), Bavarian ckeman, kemma, kemman, khemen, kumma, kumman, kèmmin (“to come”), Central Franconian komme, kunn, kumme (“to come”), Cimbrian ken, khemmen, khèmman (“to come”), Dutch komen, kommen (“to come”), Dutch Low Saxon kåmen (“to come”), German and Luxembourgish kommen (“to come”), Low German kamen, kuemen (“to come”), Mòcheno kemmen (“to come”), Yiddish קימען (kimen), קומען (kumen, “to come”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål komme (“to come”), Elfdalian kumå (“to come”), Faroese and Icelandic koma (“to come; to arrive”), Jamtish kuma (“to come”), Norwegian Nynorsk koma, komma, komme, kåmmå, kåmå (“to come”), Swedish komma (“to come”), Crimean Gothic kommen (“to come”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman, “to come”). Cognate from Proto-Indo-European with Latin venio (“to come; to approach”), Greek βήμα (víma, “pace, step”), Albanian ngah, ngaj (“to hasten, run”), Latvian dzimt (“to be born”), Lithuanian gimti (“to be born”), Armenian եկ (ek, “the act of coming, arrival; income”), Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬨 (gam, “to come, go”), Northern Kurdish gav (“step”), Persian گام (gâm, “step”), Tocharian A kum- (“to come”), Tocharian B käm- (“to come”), Sanskrit गम् (gam, “to come, go, move”).

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccome,cmoe,coem,comme,ocme

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of come - 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.

ccome1cmoe2coem2comme1ocme2
Edit distance from "come"

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 "come"?
"come" is spelled C-O-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is /kʌm/.
What does "come" mean?
As a verb, "come" means: To move nearer to the point of perspective.
What words are commonly confused with "come"?
"come" is commonly confused with "cop", "con", "cow". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "come"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "come" is /kʌm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "come"?
From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt (“to step; to arrive”), from *gʷem- (“to come, step”). Cognates Cognate from Prot... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “come”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /kʌm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “cop” - see the side-by-side comparison. come vs cop
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list