I'm
/aɪm/
"i-m" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“I'm” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #74) as a contraction. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #74
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Contraction of I + am.
Corpus desk
Index EN-i-m · I'm · English
I'm · rank #74 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #74
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 17,902
- PHOTO-FINISH other
Nearest frequency peer: other (-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 “I'm”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- them
them
99,930 corpus weight
- now
now
99,929 corpus weight
- other
other
99,928 corpus weight
- I'm
I'm
99,927 corpus weight
- its
its
99,926 corpus weight
- our
our
99,925 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “I'm” 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 | I'm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Contraction |
| IPA | /aɪm/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #74 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “I'm” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for I'm is neighbouring look-alikes ("in", "is", …), not just typos; it is acontraction pronounced /aɪm/. Frequency #74 among 17,902 “I” headwords. Gloss: "Contraction of I + am.".
I'm doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "in", "is", "it", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Contraction of I am. The correct English form is I'm, spelled I-'-M.
Definition
- 1Contraction of I + am.
Etymology
Contraction of I am.
This word in other languages
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 "I'm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
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.