harassment

/həˈɹæs.mənt/

//həˈɹæs.mənt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"harassment" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“harassment” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,016. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,016
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
14
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress.

Corpus desk

Index EN-harassment · harassment · English

harassment · rank #7,016 · 14 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,016
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH Hampshire

Nearest frequency peer: Hampshire (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “harassment”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “harassment” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for harassment
PropertyValue
Headwordharassment
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/həˈɹæs.mənt/
Letters10
Frequency rank#7,016
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “harassment”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).harassmentlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Hampshire” (#7,015), “hats” (#7,017), “Hugh” (#7,018). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “harassment” is #7,016. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around harassment (IPA /həˈɹæs.mənt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,016 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for harassment, with forms such as "ahrassment", "haarssment", and "harasment". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French harassement. By surface analysis, harass + -ment. The correct English form is harassment, spelled H-A-R-A-S-S-M-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress.
  2. 2
    Deliberate pestering or intimidation.
  3. 3
    The use of repeated small-scale attacks to wear down an enemy force.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how harassment appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “As a result, OCR found that the district’s pattern of inconsistent responses to reports it received of sexual harassment – infrequently responding under Title IX or not responding at all – rose to the level that the district’s response to some families’ sexual harassment reports was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights,” a news release from…
  2. Throughout this period, and beyond, into the rest of the battle, aircraft of various types and loadouts are crisscrossing the skies in desperate harassment attacks, with the pilots having to play constant games of "guess the carrier" to decide where to land as escort carriers are hit, sunk, disappear in columns of shell splashes, or are forced to evade at…

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French harassement. By surface analysis, harass + -ment.

Synonyms

tormentmolestation

This word in other languages

acoso(Español)harcèlement(Français)Belästigung(Deutsch)assédio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ahrassment
  • haarssment
  • harasment
  • harasmsent
  • harassemnt
  • harassmennt
  • harassmentt
  • harassmetn
  • harassmment
  • harassmnet
  • harrassment
  • harsasment
  • hharassment
  • hraassment

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of harassment - 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.

ahrassment2haarssment2harasment1harasmsent2harassemnt2harassmennt1harassmentt1harassmetn2
Edit distance from "harassment"

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 "harassment"?
"harassment" is spelled H-A-R-A-S-S-M-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is /həˈɹæs.mənt/.
What does "harassment" mean?
As a noun, "harassment" means: Persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress.
What are common misspellings of "harassment"?
Common misspellings include "ahrassment", "haarssment", "harasment", "harasmsent", "harassemnt". The correct spelling is "harassment".
How do you pronounce "harassment"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "harassment" is /həˈɹæs.mənt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "harassment"?
Borrowed from Middle French harassement. By surface analysis, harass + -ment. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "harassment", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

creativity#7,001qualifying#7,048adaptation#6,982questioned#6,954

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

Hampshire14 variantsorchestra14 variantsprecision14 variantsprivately14 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list