mayday
/ˈmeɪ.deɪ/
"mayday" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mayday” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,493. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #32,493
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An international distress signal used by shipping and aircraft.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mayday · mayday · English
mayday · rank #32,493 · 9 variants · 12 confusables
- FREQ-MID #32,493
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH McAfee
Nearest frequency peer: McAfee (+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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “mayday”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Mancini
Mancini
67,512 corpus weight
- mantel
mantel
67,511 corpus weight
- mayday
mayday
67,508 corpus weight
- McAfee
McAfee
67,507 corpus weight
- Meier
Meier
67,505 corpus weight
- melons
melons
67,504 corpus weight
What this shows “mayday” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | mayday |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmeɪ.deɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #32,493 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “mayday”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around mayday (IPA /ˈmeɪ.deɪ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,493 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "An international distress signal used by shipping and aircraft.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for mayday, with forms such as "amyday", "madyay", and "mayady". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Mazda", "Monday", "midday", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the distress signal mayday, from French m'aider, short for Venez m'aider! (“Come to help me!”). The correct English form is mayday, spelled M-A-Y-D-A-Y.
Definition
- 1An international distress signal used by shipping and aircraft.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mayday appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"Odd that she hasn't sent out a Mayday." "That is curious. Her radio must be disabled."
The captain did a safety drill. This covered where the emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was located, how to make a mayday call, and where the fire extinguishers were. A crew member demonstrated how to put on an immersion suit. These survival suits are waterproof full-body garments with a hood and integral three-finger gloves and boots. T…
Etymology
From the distress signal mayday, from French m'aider, short for Venez m'aider! (“Come to help me!”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- amyday
- madyay
- mayady
- maydayy
- maydday
- maydya
- mayyday
- mmayday
- myaday
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mayday - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "mayday", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).