alma
/ˈæl.mə/
"alma" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alma” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,459 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,459
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An Egyptian female singer or dancing girl employed for entertainment or as a professional mourner.
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 | alma |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæl.mə/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #13,459 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alma” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for alma is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæl.mə/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,459 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An Egyptian female singer or dancing girl employed for entertainment or as a professional mourner.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for alma, with forms such as "alam", "allma", and "almma". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "AM", "arm", "Amy", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From colloquial Arabic عَالِمَة (ʕālima, “a singer”), originally a feminine adjective meaning learned, knowledgeable, from عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”). The correct English form is alma, spelled A-L-M-A.
Definition
- 1An Egyptian female singer or dancing girl employed for entertainment or as a professional mourner.
Etymology
From colloquial Arabic عَالِمَة (ʕālima, “a singer”), originally a feminine adjective meaning learned, knowledgeable, from عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alam,allma,almma,amla
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of alma - 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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "alma"?
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Using “alma”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-M-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæl.mə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “AM” - see the side-by-side comparison. alma vs AM
- 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.