ahem
/əˈhɛm/
The verdict
“ahem” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #92,631 among 120,137 “A” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,631
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 120,137
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - ¡ehem!, ejem.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ahem |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /əˈhɛm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #92,631 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ahem” sits in Spanish frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ahem is uncommon Spanish at frequency #92,631 among 120,137 “A” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /əˈhɛm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "¡ehem!, ejem.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ahem, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable Spanish rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is ahem, spelled A-H-E-M.
Definition
- 1¡ehem!, ejem.
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ahem”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is A-H-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈhɛm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Other uncommon Spanish words near this 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.