Ann
/æn/
"ann" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Ann” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,923) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #3,923
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A female given name from Hebrew.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ann · Ann · English
Ann · rank #3,923 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,923
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH ambassador
Nearest frequency peer: ambassador (-1 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 neighbourhood for “Ann”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- would've
would've
96,082 corpus weight
- writes
writes
96,081 corpus weight
- ambassador
ambassador
96,079 corpus weight
- Ann
Ann
96,078 corpus weight
- banking
banking
96,075 corpus weight
- breast
breast
96,074 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Ann” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | Ann |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /æn/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #3,923 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Ann” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for Ann is neighbouring look-alikes ("as", "at", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced /æn/. Frequency #3,923 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Gloss: "A female given name from Hebrew.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for Ann 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", "AP", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Latin Anna chiefly in reference to St Anne the apocryphal mother of Mary mother of Jesus but appearing in the Vulgate in reference to Anna the Prophetess, from Koine Greek Ἄννα (Ánna, “Anna”) in the New Testament, from Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ, “Hanna… The correct English form is Ann, spelled A-N-N.
Definition
- 1A female given name from Hebrew.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Ann appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
ramsden. When you say Ann, you mean, I presume, Miss Whitefield. / tanner. I mean our Ann, your Ann, Tavy's Ann, and now, Heaven help me, my Ann!
Given a perfectly good American name like Ann, she has deliberately chosen to label herself "Anya" after a long-dead great-grandmother, and put jam in her tea.
Etymology
From Late Latin Anna chiefly in reference to St Anne the apocryphal mother of Mary mother of Jesus but appearing in the Vulgate in reference to Anna the Prophetess, from Koine Greek Ἄννα (Ánna, “Anna”) in the New Testament, from Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ, “Hannah”), from חַנָּה (ḥannâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). Occasionally reborrowed from languages who adopted the name from English. Very infrequently from Estonian abbreviation of Anna instead. Doublet of Ana, Anna, Anne, and Hannah.
This word in other languages
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 "Ann"?
What does "Ann" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Ann"?
How do you pronounce "Ann"?
What is the origin of the word "Ann"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Ann", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "Ann". Here's where to go from here.
- "Ann" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "as". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #3,923 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.