Barbara
/ˈbɑɹb(ə)ɹə/
"barbara" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Barbara” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,100. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,100
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A female given name from Latin.
Corpus desk
Index EN-barbara · Barbara · English
Barbara · rank #5,100 · 10 variants · 8 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,100
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH attract
Nearest frequency peer: attract (-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 “Barbara”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- additionally
additionally
94,904 corpus weight
- Amy
Amy
94,903 corpus weight
- attract
attract
94,902 corpus weight
- Barbara
Barbara
94,901 corpus weight
- beta
beta
94,900 corpus weight
- blowing
blowing
94,899 corpus weight
What this shows “Barbara” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | Barbara |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɑɹb(ə)ɹə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #5,100 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Barbara”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around Barbara (IPA /ˈbɑɹb(ə)ɹə/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #5,100 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Barbara, with forms such as "abrbara", "babrara", and "barabra". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "barra", "barber", "Barbra", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: * From Latin Barbara, the name of Saint Barbara, feminine form of barbarus, from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “strange, foreign”). Doublet of Varvara. * (logic): From the given name; chosen because it has three A's in it representing universal affirmat… The correct English form is Barbara, spelled B-A-R-B-A-R-A.
Definition
- 1A female given name from Latin.
- 2A syllogism in which all three propositions are of the form "All X are Y" or "X is a Y".
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Barbara appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
My mother had a maid call'd Barbara; / She was in love, and he she lov'd prov'd mad / And did forsake her; […]
All in the merrye month of May / When greene buds they were swellin / Yong Jemmye Grove on his death-bed lay / For love of Barbara Allen.
Etymology
* From Latin Barbara, the name of Saint Barbara, feminine form of barbarus, from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “strange, foreign”). Doublet of Varvara. * (logic): From the given name; chosen because it has three A's in it representing universal affirmatives.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- abrbara
- babrara
- barabra
- barbaar
- barbarra
- barbbara
- barbraa
- barrbara
- bbarbara
- brabara
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Barbara - 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 "Barbara"?
What does "Barbara" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Barbara"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Barbara", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).