mayhem
/ˈmeɪ̯ˌhɛm/
"mayhem" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mayhem” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,074 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,074
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.
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 | mayhem |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmeɪ̯ˌhɛm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,074 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mayhem” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mayhem is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmeɪ̯ˌhɛm/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,074 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for mayhem, with forms such as "amyhem", "mahyem", and "mayehm". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "mayne", "Mayhew", "maybe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mayme, mahaime, from Anglo-Norman mahaim (“mutilation”), from Old French meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to cripple, injure”) (compare Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”), Old Norse meið… The correct English form is mayhem, spelled M-A-Y-H-E-M.
Definition
- 1A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.
- 2Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing.
- 3The maiming of a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs which are necessary for defense or protection.
- 4The crime of damaging things or harming people on purpose.
Etymology
From Middle English mayme, mahaime, from Anglo-Norman mahaim (“mutilation”), from Old French meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to cripple, injure”) (compare Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”), Old Norse meiða (“to injure”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change”). More at mad. The original meaning referred to the crime of maiming; the other senses derived from this. Another possible etymology derives the Old French from Provençal maganhar, composed of mal (“evil”) and ganhar (“to obtain, receive”) (compare with Spanish ganar and Italian gavagnare and guadagnare), so literally "to obtain, receive something evil". The sense "chaos" may have arisen by popular misunderstanding of the common journalese expression "rioting and mayhem".
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amyhem,mahyem,mayehm,mayhemm,mayhhem,mayhme,mayyhem,mmayhem,myahem
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mayhem - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
How do you spell "mayhem"?
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Using “mayhem”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-Y-H-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmeɪ̯ˌhɛm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mayne” - see the side-by-side comparison. mayhem vs mayne
- 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.