Mama or mamma?
mama is a noun meaning “Synonym of mother (“a female parent”)”; mamma is a noun meaning “The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) mama is about 8.3 times as common as mamma.
What is the difference between mama and mamma?
| mama | mamma | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, interjection, verb | noun, interjection, verb |
| Meaning | CanadaUSSynonym of mother (“a female parent”) CanadaUSSynonym of mother (“an origin, a source”) USOften preceded by oh: used to express approval, joy, surprise, etc | The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera |
| Example | I love the cookies which mama bakes me every week | none recorded |
| Forms | mamas | mammae, mammas mammas |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmæmə/ /ˈmʌ-/ /məˈmɑː/ | /ˈmæmə/ |
| In writing | 17 times per million words | 2.1 times per million words |
Sources: mama and mamma in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of mama and mamma
mama
- 1
CanadaUSSynonym of mother (“a female parent”)
I love the cookies which mama bakes me every week
- 2
USOften preceded by oh: used to express approval, joy, surprise, etc
- 3
informalSynonym of mother (“to treat (someone) as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture”)
- 4
informalSynonym of mother (“a female parent”)
- 5
CanadaUSSynonym of mother (“an origin, a source”)
- 6
informalTo call out "mama"
- 7
informalUsed as a (respectful) term of address for one's mother
- 8
A lesbian partner
mamma
- 1
The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder
- 2
Alternative spelling of mama
- 3
Alternative spelling of mama
- 4
Alternative spelling of mama
- 5
An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, mama or mamma?
mama appears 17 times per million words; mamma 2.1 times per million words.
mama 17 times per million wordsmamma 2.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search mama vs mamma?
“mama vs mamma” is searched about 1,000 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“mamma vs mama”, “mama or mamma”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.