Manila or manilla?
manila is a noun meaning “Venerupis philippinarum; a Pacific clam”; manilla is a noun meaning “A penannular armlet, sometimes worn on the leg or neck or used as an ornament…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) manila is about 41 times as common as manilla.
What is the difference between manila and manilla?
| manila | manilla | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective | noun, adjective |
| Meaning | Venerupis philippinarum; a Pacific clam Made of manila paper or material like it Yellow-brown; colored like manila paper | A penannular armlet, sometimes worn on the leg or neck or used as an ornament, mostly in bronze, copper or gold, which served as a form of money or barter… |
| Example | a manila envelope | none recorded |
| Forms | manilas | manillas |
| Pronunciation | /mɐˈni.lɐ/ /məˈnɪl.ə/ /məˈnɪlə/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words | about once in every 5 million words |
Sources: manila and manilla 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 manila and manilla
manila
- 1
Venerupis philippinarum; a Pacific clam
- 2
Made of manila paper or material like it
a manila envelope
- 3
Fiber made from abaca (Manila hemp), used to make ropes and manila paper
- 4
Alternative form of manila (“kind of cheroot”)
- 5
Yellow-brown; colored like manila paper
- 6
The yellow-brown color of manila
- 7
A kind of cheroot manufactured in Manila
manilla
- 1
A penannular armlet, sometimes worn on the leg or neck or used as an ornament, mostly in bronze, copper or gold, which served as a form of money or barter coinage amongst certain West African peoples
- 2
Alternative spelling of manila (“made of or colored like manila paper”)
- 3
Alternative spelling of manila
- 4
Alternative form of manilla (“African armlet formerly used as currency”)
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, manila or manilla?
manila appears 7.6 times per million words; manilla about once in every 5 million words.
manila 7.6 times per million wordsmanilla about once in every 5 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 manila vs manilla?
“manila vs manilla” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“manilla vs manila”, “manila or manilla”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.