banana

/bəˈnɑː.nə/

//bəˈnɑː.nə// noun

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

"banana" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“banana” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,096. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,096
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

Corpus desk

Index EN-banana · banana · English

banana · rank #7,096 · 8 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,096
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH arrange

Nearest frequency peer: arrange (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “banana”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “banana” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

banana vs banda
67% similar
banana vs Bangla
50% similar
banana vs Baraka
50% similar

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

Key facts for banana
PropertyValue
Headwordbanana
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bəˈnɑː.nə/
Letters6
Frequency rank#7,096
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “banana”

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

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “arrange” (#7,095), “behave” (#7,097), “Arnold” (#7,094). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “banana” is #7,096. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around banana (IPA /bəˈnɑː.nə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,096 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for banana, with forms such as "abnana", "baanna", and "banaan". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "banda", "Bangla", "Baraka", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) … The correct English form is banana, spelled B-A-N-A-N-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
  2. 2
    An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
  3. 3
    The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas, a plant of the genus Musa (but sometimes also including plants from Ensete), which has large, elongated leaves.
  4. 4
    A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin.
  5. 5
    A person of East or Southeast Asian descent, considered to be overly assimilated and subservient to white authority.
  6. 6
    A person of Chinese descent who cannot speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect
  7. 7
    The penis.
  8. 8
    A banana kick.
  9. 9
    A banana equivalent dose.
  10. 10
    A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).
  11. 11
    An incorrectly held handstand, often seen in beginners.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Jimmy had a banana for breakfast.
  2. I'll need a few things. I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana.

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana), possibly from Arabic بَنَان (banān, “fingertip, banana”). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana. The racial slur derives from the notion that they are “Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, but White (Westernized) on the inside”.

This word in other languages

banana(Español)banane(Français)Banane(Deutsch)banana(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abnana
  • baanna
  • banaan
  • bananna
  • bannaa
  • bannana
  • bbanana
  • bnaana

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of banana - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

abnana2baanna2banaan2bananna1bannaa2bannana1bbanana1bnaana2
Edit distance from "banana"

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 "banana"?
"banana" is spelled B-A-N-A-N-A. The IPA pronunciation is /bəˈnɑː.nə/.
What does "banana" mean?
As a noun, "banana" means: An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
What words are commonly confused with "banana"?
"banana" is commonly confused with "banda", "Bangla", "Baraka". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "banana"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "banana" is /bəˈnɑː.nə/. 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 "banana"?
Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌ... 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 "banana", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

behave#7,097Arnold#7,094Amanda#7,093borrow#7,101

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

arrange8 variantsabused8 variantswrist8 variantsclerk8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list