banal
/bəˈnɑːl/
"banal" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“banal” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #33,531 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #33,531
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
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 | banal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /bəˈnɑːl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #33,531 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “banal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for banal is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bəˈnɑːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #33,531 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 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for banal, with forms such as "abnal", "baanl", and "banall". 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 also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bank", "band", "bang", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French banal (“held in common, relating to feudal service, by extension commonplace”), from Old French banel, related to Medieval Latin bannālis (“subject to feudal authority”), from Latin bannus (“jurisdiction”), both ultimately from Proto-Ge… The correct English form is banal, spelled B-A-N-A-L.
Definition
- 1Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
- 2Relating to a type of feudal jurisdiction or service.
Etymology
Borrowed from French banal (“held in common, relating to feudal service, by extension commonplace”), from Old French banel, related to Medieval Latin bannālis (“subject to feudal authority”), from Latin bannus (“jurisdiction”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to order, summon, forbid”). Equivalent to ban + -al. See also ban, abandon.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abnal,baanl,banall,banla,bannal,bbanal,bnaal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of banal - 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
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Using “banal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bəˈnɑːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bank” - see the side-by-side comparison. banal vs bank
- 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.