aba
/əˈbɑː/
"aba" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“aba” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,003 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,003
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
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 | aba |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈbɑː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,003 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “aba” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for aba is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈbɑː/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,003 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for aba in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "at", "an", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Arabic عَبَاءَة (ʕabāʔa). Compare abaya. The correct English form is aba, spelled A-B-A.
Definition
- 1A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
- 2A loose-fitting sleeveless garment, made from aba or silk, worn by Arabs.
- 3An outer garment made of the above, very simple in form, worn by the Arabs of the desert. The illustration shows such an aba, made of two breadths of stuff sewed together to make an oblong about four by nine feet.
- 4Such a garment that is specific to women.
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic عَبَاءَة (ʕabāʔa). Compare abaya.
Synonyms
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “aba”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-B-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbɑː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “as” - see the side-by-side comparison. aba vs as
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English 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.