diva
/ˈdiː.və/
"diva" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“diva” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,693 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,693
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any female celebrity, usually a well known singer or actress.
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 | diva |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdiː.və/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #16,693 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “diva” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for diva is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdiː.və/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,693 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 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for diva, with forms such as "ddiva", "diav", and "divva". 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, "DV", "DNA", "DVD", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Italian diva (“diva, goddess”), from Latin dīva (“goddess”), female of dīvus (“divine, divine one; notably a deified mortal”), from Old Latin deivā, from Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”), feminine of *deiwos (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“g… The correct English form is diva, spelled D-I-V-A.
Definition
- 1Any female celebrity, usually a well known singer or actress.
- 2A person with an inflated sense of self, who has high expectations of others, and who is extremely demanding and fussy when it comes to personal privileges.
- 3A person who slays in a confident and feminine manner.
Etymology
From Italian diva (“diva, goddess”), from Latin dīva (“goddess”), female of dīvus (“divine, divine one; notably a deified mortal”), from Old Latin deivā, from Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”), feminine of *deiwos (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“god”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddiva,diav,divva,dvia,idva
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of diva - 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.
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 "diva"?
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Using “diva”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-V-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdiː.və/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “DV” - see the side-by-side comparison. diva vs DV
- 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.