firm
/fɜɹm/
"firm" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“firm” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,693. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,693
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A business partnership; the name under which it trades.
Corpus desk
Index EN-firm · firm · English
firm · rank #1,693 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,693
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 18,613
- PHOTO-FINISH extremely
Nearest frequency peer: extremely (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “firm”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- dangerous
dangerous
98,311 corpus weight
- ed
ed
98,310 corpus weight
- extremely
extremely
98,309 corpus weight
- firm
firm
98,308 corpus weight
- greatest
greatest
98,307 corpus weight
- handle
handle
98,306 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “firm” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | firm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fɜɹm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,693 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “firm” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around firm (IPA /fɜɹm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,693 among 18,613 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for firm, with forms such as "ffirm", "fimr", and "firmm". 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, "FM", "for", "fit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Italian firma (“signature”), from firmare (“to sign”), from Latin firmāre (“to make firm, to confirm (by signature)”), from firmus (“firm, stable”). The contemporary sense developed in the 18th century simultaneously with German Firma (“business, name … The correct English form is firm, spelled F-I-R-M.
Definition
- 1A business partnership; the name under which it trades.
- 2A business enterprise, however organized.
- 3A criminal gang, especially based around football hooliganism.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how firm appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms.[…]Banks and credit-card firms are kept out of the picture. Talk to enough people in the field and someone is bound to mention the “democratisation of finance”.
Etymology
From Italian firma (“signature”), from firmare (“to sign”), from Latin firmāre (“to make firm, to confirm (by signature)”), from firmus (“firm, stable”). The contemporary sense developed in the 18th century simultaneously with German Firma (“business, name of business”). There are conflicting statements in the literature as to which of the two languages influenced which. Doublet of dharma and dhamma. Other cognates include Russian держать (deržatʹ, “to hold”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ffirm
- fimr
- firmm
- firrm
- frim
- ifrm
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of firm - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "firm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.