aba

/əˈbɑː/

//əˈbɑː// noun

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

"aba" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“aba” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,003) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#19,003
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.

Corpus desk

Index EN-aba · aba · English

aba · rank #19,003 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,003
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH adored

Nearest frequency peer: adored (+2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “aba”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “aba” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

aba vs as
33% similar
aba vs at
33% similar
aba vs an
33% similar

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

Key facts for aba
PropertyValue
Headwordaba
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈbɑː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#19,003
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “aba”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).abalands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “adored” (#19,005), “Airbnb” (#19,006), “wrongful” (#18,997). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “aba” is #19,003. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for aba is neighbouring look-alikes ("as", "at", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /əˈbɑː/. Frequency #19,003 among 3,931 “A” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

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

  1. 1
    A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
  2. 2
    A loose-fitting sleeveless garment, made from aba or silk, worn by Arabs.
  3. 3
    An 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.
  4. 4
    Such a garment that is specific to women.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. 'A pale mauve abba such as you buy in the East.'
  2. Here Nessim would sit night after night in the winter, dressed in his old rust-coloured abba, staring gravely at Betelgeuse, or hovering over books of calculations for all the world like a medieval soothsayer.

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَبَاءَة (ʕabāʔa). Compare abaya.

Synonyms

abaya

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

How do you spell "aba"?
"aba" is spelled A-B-A. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈbɑː/.
What does "aba" mean?
As a noun, "aba" means: A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
What words are commonly confused with "aba"?
"aba" is commonly confused with "as", "at", "an". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "aba"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "aba" is /əˈbɑː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "aba"?
Borrowed from Arabic عَبَاءَة (ʕabāʔa). Compare abaya. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "aba", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

apa#19,013unc#18,980TDS#18,968cor#19,048

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list