Mafia
[ˈmafi̯a]
The verdict
“Mafia” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #7,642 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,642
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - organisierte Verbrecherorganisationen
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 | Mafia |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈmafi̯a] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,642 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Mafia” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Mafia is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈmafi̯a]. Corpus data places it at rank #7,642 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Mafia, with forms such as "amfia", "mafai", and "maffia". 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, "Mai", "Mia", "Mama", 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 any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is Mafia, spelled M-A-F-I-A.
Definition
- 1organisierte Verbrecherorganisationen
- 2sizilianischer Geheimbund
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amfia,mafai,maffia,maifa,mfaia,mmafia
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Mafia - 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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Mafia"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Mafia”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is M-A-F-I-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈmafi̯a] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Mai” - see the side-by-side comparison. Mafia vs Mai
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German 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.