om
/ɒm/
"om" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“om” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,970 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,970
- frequency rank, English
- 2
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sacred, mystical syllable used in prayer and meditation.
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 | om |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɒm/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #13,970 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “om” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for om is 2 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɒm/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,970 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A sacred, mystical syllable used in prayer and meditation.".
om has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "on", "or", "op", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Sanskrit ओम् (om) (symbol ॐ (oṃ)). The former (om) is used in both Buddhist and Hindu settings, while the latter (aum) is usually used only in Jain and Hindu settings. The correct English form is om, spelled O-M.
Definition
- 1A sacred, mystical syllable used in prayer and meditation.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Sanskrit ओम् (om) (symbol ॐ (oṃ)). The former (om) is used in both Buddhist and Hindu settings, while the latter (aum) is usually used only in Jain and Hindu settings.
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 “om”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɒm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “on” - see the side-by-side comparison. om vs on
- 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.