glamour
/ˈɡlæmə/
"glamour" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“glamour” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,765 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,765
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Originally, enchantment; magic charm; especially, the effect of a spell that causes one to see objects in a form that differs from reality, typically to make filthy, ugly, or repulsive things seem ...
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 | glamour |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡlæmə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #14,765 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “glamour” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for glamour is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡlæmə/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,765 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for glamour, with forms such as "galmour", "gglamour", and "glammour". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Gilmour", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Scots glamour (“magic”), alteration of Middle English gramere (“grammar”), from Old French gramaire. Doublet of glamoury, gramarye, grammar, and grimoire. A connection has also been suggested with Old Norse glámr (“the moon", also "the name of… The correct English form is glamour, spelled G-L-A-M-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1Originally, enchantment; magic charm; especially, the effect of a spell that causes one to see objects in a form that differs from reality, typically to make filthy, ugly, or repulsive things seem beauteous.
- 2Alluring beauty or charm (often with sex appeal).
- 3Any excitement, appeal, or attractiveness associated with a person, place, or thing; that which makes something appealing.
- 4Any artificial interest in, or association with, objects, or persons, through which they appear delusively magnified or glorified.
- 5A kind of haze in the air, causing things to appear different from what they really are.
- 6An item, motif, person, image that by association improves appearance.
- 7A beautiful woman.
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots glamour (“magic”), alteration of Middle English gramere (“grammar”), from Old French gramaire. Doublet of glamoury, gramarye, grammar, and grimoire. A connection has also been suggested with Old Norse glámr (“the moon", also "the name of a ghost”, poetic byname, literally “the pale one”) and glámsýni (“glamour, illusion”, literally “glam-sight”). From Grettir's Saga aka Grettis Saga, one of the Sagas of Icelanders, after the hero has been cursed by Glam, aka Glamr: "...he was become so fearsome a man in the dark, that he durst go nowhither alone after nightfall, for then he seemed to see all kinds of horrors. And that has fallen since into a proverb, that "Glam lends eyes", or gives Glamsight to those who see things nowise as they are."
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: galmour,gglamour,glammour,glamoru,glamourr,glamuor,glaomur,gllamour,glmaour,lgamour
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of glamour - 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
How do you spell "glamour"?
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Using “glamour”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-L-A-M-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡlæmə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Gilmour” - see the side-by-side comparison. glamour vs Gilmour
- 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.