max
/mæks/
"max" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“max” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2,222) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #2,222
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Maximum; maximal.
Corpus desk
Index EN-max · max · English
max · rank #2,222 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,222
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH lunch
Nearest frequency peer: lunch (-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 “max”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- loves
loves
97,781 corpus weight
- lunch
lunch
97,780 corpus weight
- max
max
97,779 corpus weight
- milk
milk
97,778 corpus weight
- pack
pack
97,777 corpus weight
- payment
payment
97,776 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “max” 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 | max |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /mæks/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #2,222 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “max” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for max is neighbouring look-alikes ("my", "ME", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /mæks/. Frequency #2,222 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Gloss: "Maximum; maximal.".
Zero misspellings are on record for max in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "my", "ME", "Mr", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Abbreviation of maximum. The correct English form is max, spelled M-A-X.
Definition
- 1Maximum; maximal.
Etymology
Abbreviation of maximum.
Synonyms
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "max", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "max". Here's where to go from here.
- "max" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "my". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #2,222 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.