even
/ˈiː.vən/
"even" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“even” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #108 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #108
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Flat and level.
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 | even |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈiː.vən/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #108 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “even” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for even is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈiː.vən/. Corpus data places it at rank #108 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 10 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 even, with forms such as "eevn", "evenn", and "evne". 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, "eye", "evo", "exe", 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 even, from Old English efn (“flat; level, even, equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *ebn, from Proto-Germanic *ebnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)em-no- (“equal, straight; flat, level, even”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian íeuwen (“even… The correct English form is even, spelled E-V-E-N.
Definition
- 1Flat and level.
- 2Without great variation.
- 3Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.
- 4Of an integer, divisible by two.
- 5Of a number, convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
- 6On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
- 7On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
- 8Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.
- 9Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
- 10Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
Etymology
From Middle English even, from Old English efn (“flat; level, even, equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *ebn, from Proto-Germanic *ebnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)em-no- (“equal, straight; flat, level, even”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian íeuwen (“even, flat”), West Frisian even (“even”), Alemannic German ëben (“even”), Cimbrian ébane (“even”), Dutch even (“even, equal, same”), effen (“leveled”), German eben (“even, flat, level”), Danish jævn (“even, flat, smooth”), Icelandic jafn (“even”), Norwegian Bokmål jevn (“even, smooth”), Norwegian Nynorsk jamn (“even, smooth”), Swedish jämn (“even, level, smooth”), Gothic 𐌹𐌱𐌽𐍃 (ibns, “even”), Old Cornish eun (“equal, right”) (attested in Vocabularium Cornicum eun-hinsic (“iustus, i. e., just”)), Old Breton eun (“equal, right”) (attested in Eutychius Glossary eunt (“aequus, i. e., equal”)), Middle Breton effn, Breton eeun, Sanskrit अम्नस् (amnás, “(adverb) just, just now; at once”). The verb descends from Middle English evenen, from Old English efnan; the adverb from Middle English evene, from Old English efne. The traditional proposal connecting the Germanic adjective with the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- (Latin imāgō (“picture, image, likeness, copy”), Latin aemulus (“competitor, rival”), Sanskrit यम (yamá, “pair, twin”)) is problematic from a phonological point of view. For the meaning development compare with Latin aequus (“equal, level, even, flat, horizontal”), Russian ро́вный (róvnyj, “even, level, flat, smooth”), ра́вный (rávnyj, “equal”), по́ровну (pórovnu, “in equal parts”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eevn,evenn,evne,evven,veen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of even - 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.
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 “even”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-V-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈiː.vən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “eye” - see the side-by-side comparison. even vs eye
- 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.