hyperbola
/haɪˈpɚ.bə.lə/
"hyperbola" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hyperbola” is uncommon English (frequency #91,622 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #91,622
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane that intersects the base of the cone and is not tangent to the cone. The function y(x) = 1/x draws a hyperbola.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hyperbola |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /haɪˈpɚ.bə.lə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #91,622 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hyperbola” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hyperbola is uncommon English at frequency #91,622 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /haɪˈpɚ.bə.lə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane that intersects the base of the cone and is not tangent to the cone. The function y(x) = 1/x draws a hyperbola.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for hyperbola, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin hyperbola, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ). Doublet of hyperbole. The correct English form is hyperbola, spelled H-Y-P-E-R-B-O-L-A.
Definition
- 1A conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane that intersects the base of the cone and is not tangent to the cone. The function y(x) = 1/x draws a hyperbola.
Etymology
From New Latin hyperbola, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ). Doublet of hyperbole.
This word in other languages
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 “hyperbola”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-Y-P-E-R-B-O-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /haɪˈpɚ.bə.lə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.