IPA

[ˌiːpeːˈʔaː]

/[ˌiːpeːˈʔaː]/ abbrev

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

The verdict

“IPA” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #43,994) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#43,994
frequency rank, German
1,488
“I” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Internationales Phonetisches Alphabet

Corpus desk

Index DE-ipa · IPA · German

IPA · rank #43,994 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,994
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,488
  • PHOTO-FINISH Inzucht

Nearest frequency peer: Inzucht (-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 „IPA“

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

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „IPA“ 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).

IPA vs is
0% similar
IPA vs IT
33% similar
IPA vs IQ
33% similar

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

Key facts for IPA
PropertyValue
HeadwordIPA
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
IPA[ˌiːpeːˈʔaː]
Letters3
Frequency rank#43,994
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „IPA“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).IPAliegt 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: „Inzucht“ (#43,993), „Interna“ (#43,992), „jag“ (#43,996). Unter 1,488 „I“-Lemmata liegt „IPA“ bei #43,994. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for IPA is neighbouring look-alikes ("is", "IT", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation pronounced [ˌiːpeːˈʔaː]. Frequency #43,994 among 1,488 “I” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for IPA in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "is", "IT", "IQ", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is IPA, spelled I-P-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Internationales Phonetisches Alphabet
  2. 2
    Interparlamentarische Arbeitsgemeinschaft
  3. 3
    Internationale Psychoanalytische Vereinigung
  4. 4
    Isopropylalkohol

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Tatsächlich universell ist seiner Natur nach natürlich das Internationale Phonetische Alphabet (IPA), das ja speziell zu dem Zweck, universell zu sein, geschaffen wurde.“
  2. „Die Idee, ein phonetisches Alphabet aufzustellen, trug zuerst Otto Jespersen (1860-1943) im Jahr 1886 vor, und die erste Version des Internationalen Phonetischen Alphabets (IPA) wurde im August 1888 veröffentlicht.“

This word in other languages

IPA(English)AFI(Español)API(Français)AFI(Português)

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 "IPA"?
"IPA" is spelled I-P-A. The IPA pronunciation is [ˌiːpeːˈʔaː].
What does "IPA" mean?
As an abbreviation, "IPA" means: Internationales Phonetisches Alphabet
What words are commonly confused with "IPA"?
"IPA" is commonly confused with "is", "IT", "IQ". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "IPA"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "IPA" is [ˌiːpeːˈʔaː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "IPA" come from?
"IPA" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "IPA", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

jag#43,996idF#43,983lui#44,056LVL#44,057

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list