Abba

[ˈaba]

/[ˈaba]/ name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Abba” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #23,399) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#23,399
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords
1
tracked misspelling
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Anrede für Gott im Gebet

Corpus desk

Index DE-abba · Abba · German

Abba · rank #23,399 · 1 variant · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,399
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 1 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH abgedreht

Nearest frequency peer: abgedreht (+1 rank slots)

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.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „Abba“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „Abba“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Abba vs aha
25% similar
Abba vs Abo
50% similar
Abba vs abu
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Abba
PropertyValue
HeadwordAbba
LanguageGerman
Part of speechProper noun
IPA[ˈaba]
Letters4
Frequency rank#23,399
Misspellings tracked1
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „Abba“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Abbaliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „abgedreht“ (#23,400), „abgefeuert“ (#23,401), „abschreiben“ (#23,402). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „Abba“ bei #23,399. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Abba is neighbouring look-alikes ("aha", "Abo", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced [ˈaba]. Frequency #23,399 among 6,976 “A” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 1 likely wrong-spelling variant for Abba, including "abab". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "aha", "Abo", "abu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Abba, spelled A-B-B-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Anrede für Gott im Gebet
  2. 2
    seit dem 4. Jahrhundert nach Christus kirchlicher Ehrentitel

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Abba appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. „Weil ihr aber Söhne seid, sandte Gott den Geist seines Sohnes in unser Herz, den Geist, der ruft: Abba, Vater.“
  2. „[…] unser Vater Erzbischof Abba Johannes Patriarch von Alexandria und unser Vater Erzbischof Abba Gabriel, Erzbischof über uns ist in dieser oberen Stadt.“

Synonyms

Vater

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abab

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Abba - 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.

abab2
Edit distance from "Abba"

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Abba"?
"Abba" is spelled A-B-B-A. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈaba].
What does "Abba" mean?
As a proper noun, "Abba" means: Anrede für Gott im Gebet
What words are commonly confused with "Abba"?
"Abba" is commonly confused with "aha", "Abo", "abu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Abba"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Abba" is [ˈaba]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Abba" come from?
"Abba" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Abba", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Yuan#23,381wale#23,369biel#23,446Tölz#23,337

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list