poem
/ˈpəʊ.ɪm/
"poem" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“poem” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,698 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,698
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A literary piece written in verse.
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 | poem |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpəʊ.ɪm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #4,698 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “poem” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for poem is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpəʊ.ɪm/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,698 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for poem, with forms such as "opem", "peom", and "poemm". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pop", "pot", "pos", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French poème, from Latin poēma, from Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma), from ποιέω (poiéō, “to make”). Displaced native Old English lēoþ. The correct English form is poem, spelled P-O-E-M.
Definition
- 1A literary piece written in verse.
- 2A piece of writing in the tradition of poetry, an instance of poetry.
- 3A piece of poetic writing, that is with an intensity or depth of expression or inspiration greater than is usual in prose.
Etymology
From Middle French poème, from Latin poēma, from Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma), from ποιέω (poiéō, “to make”). Displaced native Old English lēoþ.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opem,peom,poemm,pome,ppoem
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of poem - 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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Using “poem”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpəʊ.ɪm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pop” - see the side-by-side comparison. poem vs pop
- 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.