bonanza
/bəˈnæn.zə/
"bonanza" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bonanza” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,074 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,074
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A rich mine or vein of silver or gold.
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 | bonanza |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bəˈnæn.zə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #27,074 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bonanza” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bonanza is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bəˈnæn.zə/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,074 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for bonanza, with forms such as "bbonanza", "bnoanza", and "boannza". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "banana", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-der. Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκός (mălăkós) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ (mălăkĭ́ā)bor. Latin malacia ▲… The correct English form is bonanza, spelled B-O-N-A-N-Z-A.
Definition
- 1A rich mine or vein of silver or gold.
- 2The point at which two mother lodes intersect.
- 3Anything which is a great source of wealth or yields a large income or return.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-der. Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκός (mălăkós) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ (mălăkĭ́ā)bor. Latin malacia ▲ Latin bonusinflu. Vulgar Latin *bonacia Spanish bonanzabor. English bonanza Borrowed from Spanish bonanza (“dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode”), from Vulgar Latin *bonacia (“lull, dead calm”), in turn from Latin malacia (“calm sea”), influenced by bonus (“good”) under the false impression that initial mal- is a derivate of malus (“bad”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbonanza,bnoanza,boannza,bonanaz,bonannza,bonanzza,bonazna,bonnanza,bonnaza,obnanza
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bonanza - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "bonanza"?
What does "bonanza" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "bonanza"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “bonanza”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-N-A-N-Z-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bəˈnæn.zə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “banana” - see the side-by-side comparison. bonanza vs banana
- 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.