jam
/ˈd͡ʒæm/
"jam" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jam” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,426 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,426
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
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 | jam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈd͡ʒæm/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #5,426 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “jam” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for jam is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈd͡ʒæm/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,426 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for jam, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Jr", "jo", "JI", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to… The correct English form is jam, spelled J-A-M.
Definition
- 1A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
- 2A difficult situation.
- 3A difficult situation.
- 4A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
- 5An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
- 6A song; a track.
- 7An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
- 8That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
- 9A forceful dunk.
- 10A play during which points can be scored.
- 11Any of several manoeuvres requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
- 12The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
- 13Luck.
- 14Balls, bollocks, courage, machismo.
- 15Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.
- 16Something enjoyable; a delightful situation or outcome.
Etymology
First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic. The "performance" sense is first attested with regards to jazz in 1929, and its origin, though uncertain, is likely metaphorical, "something sweet made by the combination of many things", with influence from jamboree.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “jam”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is J-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈd͡ʒæm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Jr” - see the side-by-side comparison. jam vs Jr
- 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.