ayatollah
/aɪ.əˈtoʊl.ə/
"ayatollah" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ayatollah” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,867 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #31,867
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A religious leader in Twelver Shi'ism.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ayatollah |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /aɪ.əˈtoʊl.ə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #31,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ayatollah” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ayatollah is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /aɪ.əˈtoʊl.ə/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,867 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for ayatollah, with forms such as "aaytollah", "ayaotllah", and "ayatlolah". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیَتُاللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh), from Classical Persian آیَةُاللّٰه (āyatu-l-lāh), from Arabic آيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ (ʔāyatu llāhi, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) + اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)). The correct English form is ayatollah, spelled A-Y-A-T-O-L-L-A-H.
Definition
- 1A religious leader in Twelver Shi'ism.
- 2An authority on any subject.
Etymology
Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیَتُاللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh), from Classical Persian آیَةُاللّٰه (āyatu-l-lāh), from Arabic آيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ (ʔāyatu llāhi, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) + اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aaytollah,ayaotllah,ayatlolah,ayatolah,ayatolalh,ayatollahh,ayatollha,ayattollah,aytaollah,ayyatollah,yaatollah
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ayatollah - 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 "ayatollah"?
What does "ayatollah" mean?
What are common misspellings of "ayatollah"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “ayatollah”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-Y-A-T-O-L-L-A-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /aɪ.əˈtoʊl.ə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.