esteem
/ɪˈstiːm/
"esteem" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“esteem” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,282 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,282
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Assessment, estimation, or regard; especially; favourable estimation or regard.
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 | esteem |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɪˈstiːm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #8,282 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “esteem” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for esteem is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪˈstiːm/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,282 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Assessment, estimation, or regard; especially; favourable estimation or regard.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for esteem, with forms such as "esetem", "essteem", and "esteemm". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "ester", "Estes", "Esther", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: First at end of 16th century; borrowed from Middle French estimer, borrowed from Latin aestimō. See estimate and aim, an older word, partly a doublet. The correct English form is esteem, spelled E-S-T-E-E-M.
Definition
- 1Assessment, estimation, or regard; especially; favourable estimation or regard.
Etymology
First at end of 16th century; borrowed from Middle French estimer, borrowed from Latin aestimō. See estimate and aim, an older word, partly a doublet.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esetem,essteem,esteemm,estem,esteme,estteem,etseem,seteem
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of esteem - 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
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Using “esteem”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-S-T-E-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪˈstiːm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ester” - see the side-by-side comparison. esteem vs ester
- 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.