emo
/ˈiː.moʊ/
"emo" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“emo” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,199 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #21,199
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional; a broadly encompassing genre of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional lyrics.
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 | emo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈiː.moʊ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #21,199 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “emo” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for emo is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈiː.moʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,199 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
emo doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ex", "et", "EU", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of emotional. Compound emocore first attested in 1986. Word emo first attested in 1988. The correct English form is emo, spelled E-M-O.
Definition
- 1Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional; a broadly encompassing genre of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional lyrics.
- 2Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional; a broadly encompassing genre of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional lyrics.
- 3Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional; a broadly encompassing genre of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional lyrics.
- 4Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional; a broadly encompassing genre of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional lyrics.
- 5An individual presenting as such.
- 6An individual presenting as such.
- 7An individual presenting as such.
- 8An individual presenting as such.
Etymology
Clipping of emotional. Compound emocore first attested in 1986. Word emo first attested in 1988.
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
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Using “emo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-M-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈiː.moʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ex” - see the side-by-side comparison. emo vs ex
- 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.