ganja
/ˈɡɑn.d͡ʒɑ/
"ganja" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ganja” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,709 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #40,709
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Marijuana, the inflorescence of the Cannabis sativa plant, smoked or ingested for euphoric effect.
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 | ganja |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡɑn.d͡ʒɑ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #40,709 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ganja” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ganja is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡɑn.d͡ʒɑ/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,709 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Marijuana, the inflorescence of the Cannabis sativa plant, smoked or ingested for euphoric effect.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ganja, with forms such as "agnja", "gajna", and "ganaj". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "Gaza", "gina", "Gaya", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hindi गांजा (gāñjā), ultimately from Sanskrit गञ्जा (gañjā, “hemp”). First use appears c. 1800. The correct English form is ganja, spelled G-A-N-J-A.
Definition
- 1Marijuana, the inflorescence of the Cannabis sativa plant, smoked or ingested for euphoric effect.
Etymology
Borrowed from Hindi गांजा (gāñjā), ultimately from Sanskrit गञ्जा (gañjā, “hemp”). First use appears c. 1800.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: agnja,gajna,ganaj,ganjja,gannja,gganja,gnaja
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ganja - 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
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Using “ganja”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-A-N-J-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡɑn.d͡ʒɑ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Gaza” - see the side-by-side comparison. ganja vs Gaza
- 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.