Hannah
/ˈhænə/
"hannah" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Hannah” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,579 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #6,579
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mother of the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament.
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 | Hannah |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈhænə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,579 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Hannah” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Hannah is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhænə/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,579 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Hannah, with forms such as "ahnnah", "hanah", and "hananh". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "henna", "Hana", "Hanna", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From previous romanizations of Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ), chiefly for the mother of Samuel, from חַנָּה (ḥannâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). As a Wren with the Royal Marines, after Hannah Snell (1723–1792) who disguised herself as a man to serve in th… The correct English form is Hannah, spelled H-A-N-N-A-H.
Definition
- 1Mother of the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament.
- 2A female given name from Hebrew.
- 3A place name in the United States, which could be from the given name or surname:
- 4A place name in the United States, which could be from the given name or surname:
- 5A place name in the United States, which could be from the given name or surname:
- 6A place name in the United States, which could be from the given name or surname:
- 7A hamlet in Hannah cum Hagnaby parish, East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF5079).
Etymology
From previous romanizations of Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥannâ), chiefly for the mother of Samuel, from חַנָּה (ḥannâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). As a Wren with the Royal Marines, after Hannah Snell (1723–1792) who disguised herself as a man to serve in the British military. Doublet of Ann, Anne, Anna, and Ana.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahnnah,hanah,hananh,hannahh,hannha,hhannah,hnanah
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Hannah - 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 "Hannah"?
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Using “Hannah”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-N-N-A-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhænə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “henna” - see the side-by-side comparison. Hannah vs henna
- 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.