sidearm
/ˈsaɪdˌɑɹm/
"sidearm" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sidearm” is uncommon English (frequency #55,736 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,736
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A personal weapon, either a firearm (handgun type) or a cold weapon (such as a sword), carried on the hip in a belt, sheath, holster, etc., for rapid access.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sidearm · sidearm · English
sidearm · rank #55,736 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,736
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH signpost
Nearest frequency peer: signpost (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “sidearm”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- shand
shand
44,270 corpus weight
- shew
shew
44,268 corpus weight
- sidearm
sidearm
44,265 corpus weight
- signpost
signpost
44,264 corpus weight
- Sinhala
Sinhala
44,263 corpus weight
- skatepark
skatepark
44,261 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sidearm” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sidearm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsaɪdˌɑɹm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #55,736 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sidearm” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sidearm is uncommon English at frequency #55,736 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsaɪdˌɑɹm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A personal weapon, either a firearm (handgun type) or a cold weapon (such as a sword), carried on the hip in a belt, sheath, holster, etc., for rapid access.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for sidearm in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From side + arm. The correct English form is sidearm, spelled S-I-D-E-A-R-M.
Definition
- 1A personal weapon, either a firearm (handgun type) or a cold weapon (such as a sword), carried on the hip in a belt, sheath, holster, etc., for rapid access.
Etymology
From side + arm.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sidearm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.