may
/meɪ/
"may" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“may” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #110 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #110
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To be strong; to have power (over).
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 | may |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /meɪ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #110 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “may” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for may is 3 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /meɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #110 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for may in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "my", "ME", "Mr", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mowen, mayen, moȝen, maȝen, from Old English magan, from Proto-West Germanic *magan, from Proto-Germanic *maganą, from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-. Cognate with Dutch mag (“may”, first- and third-person singular of mogen (“to be able to, … The correct English form is may, spelled M-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To be strong; to have power (over).
- 2To be able; can.
- 3To be able to go.
- 4To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.
- 5Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.
- 6Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.
- 7Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect).
- 8Used in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark.
Etymology
From Middle English mowen, mayen, moȝen, maȝen, from Old English magan, from Proto-West Germanic *magan, from Proto-Germanic *maganą, from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-. Cognate with Dutch mag (“may”, first- and third-person singular of mogen (“to be able to, be allowed to, may”)), Low German mögen, German mag (“like”, first- and third-person singular of mögen (“to like, want, require”)), Swedish må, Icelandic mega, megum. See also might.
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 “may”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /meɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “my” - see the side-by-side comparison. may vs my
- 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.