hammer
/ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/
"hammer" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hammer” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,501 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,501
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
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 | hammer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,501 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hammer” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hammer is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,501 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for hammer, with forms such as "ahmmer", "hamemr", and "hammerr". 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, "homer", "hater", "Homme", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stone head”) (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). This is … The correct English form is hammer, spelled H-A-M-M-E-R.
Definition
- 1A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
- 2The act of using a hammer to hit something.
- 3The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
- 4In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
- 5A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
- 6The last stone in an end.
- 7A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
- 8Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
- 9One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
- 10Ellipsis of hammer headline.
- 11The accelerator pedal.
- 12A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
- 13A handgun.
Etymology
From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stone head”) (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). This is traditionally ascribed to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”), but see *hamaraz for further discussion. (declare a defaulter on the stock exchange): Originally signalled by knocking with a wooden mallet.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahmmer,hamemr,hammerr,hammre,hhammer,hmamer
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hammer - 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 “hammer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-M-M-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “homer” - see the side-by-side comparison. hammer vs homer
- 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.