henna
/hɛnə/
"henna" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“henna” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #35,332) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #35,332
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A shrub, Lawsonia inermis, having fragrant reddish flowers.
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 | henna |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /hɛnə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #35,332 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “henna” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for henna is neighbouring look-alikes ("Hera", "hewn", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /hɛnə/. Frequency #35,332 among 23,837 “H” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for henna, with forms such as "ehnna", "hena", and "hhenna". 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, "Hera", "hewn", "henry", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Arabic حِنَّاء (ḥinnāʔ), the name of the tree used to make the dye, probably from Middle Persian [script needed] (*hannāy-, “to smear, anoint”). The correct English form is henna, spelled H-E-N-N-A.
Definition
- 1A shrub, Lawsonia inermis, having fragrant reddish flowers.
- 2A flower of this plant.
- 3A reddish plant substance, prepared from the dried leaves of this plant, used for temporary tattoos and hair coloring. Hair colorings range from bright red to earth brown to near black.
- 4A rich reddish-brown colour.
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic حِنَّاء (ḥinnāʔ), the name of the tree used to make the dye, probably from Middle Persian [script needed] (*hannāy-, “to smear, anoint”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ehnna
- hena
- hhenna
- hnena
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of henna - 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
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Using “henna”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-N-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hɛnə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Hera” - see the side-by-side comparison. henna vs Hera
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Words at a similar English frequency
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.