ill-omened

adj

"ill-omened" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ill-omened” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having a bad omen; inauspicious; unlucky.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ill-omened · ill-omened · English

ill-omened · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "I" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for ill-omened
PropertyValue
Headwordill-omened
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ill-omened” in English

ill-omenedranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ill-omened is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Having a bad omen; inauspicious; unlucky.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for ill-omened in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is ill-omened, spelled I-L-L---O-M-E-N-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Having a bad omen; inauspicious; unlucky.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ill betide those foul birds that delight to file their own nest, and disgust the ear with perpetual discord of ill-omened croak.
  2. From the first day of our ill-omened attachment, I was conscious that Agnes's passion was a stronger, a more dominant, and—if I may use the expression—a purer sentiment than mine.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ill-omened"?
"ill-omened" is spelled I-L-L---O-M-E-N-E-D.
What does "ill-omened" mean?
As an adjective, "ill-omened" means: Having a bad omen; inauspicious; unlucky.
What language does "ill-omened" come from?
"ill-omened" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list