waterman
"waterman" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“waterman” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #32,650 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #32,650
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A seaman, a sailor.
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 | waterman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #32,650 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “waterman” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for waterman is 8 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #32,650 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for waterman, with forms such as "awterman", "waetrman", and "watemran". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "waterway", "watermark", "weatherman", 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 English waterman, equivalent to water + -man. The correct English form is waterman, spelled W-A-T-E-R-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A seaman, a sailor.
- 2A man who lives or works on the water; a boatman.
- 3Someone who distributes or supplies water for a living; a water-carrier.
- 4Specifically, an attendant on cab stands who supplies water to the horses.
- 5A man skilled in multiple aquatic sports disciplines, such as surfing, bodysurfing, undersea diving, canoe paddling, fishing, etc.
Etymology
From Middle English waterman, equivalent to water + -man.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awterman,waetrman,watemran,wateramn,watermann,watermman,watermna,waterrman,watreman,watterman,wtaerman,wwaterman
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of waterman - 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 “waterman”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-T-E-R-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “waterway” - see the side-by-side comparison. waterman vs waterway
- 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.