mahogany
/məˈhɒɡəni/
"mahogany" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mahogany” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,890 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,890
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The valuable wood of any of various tropical American evergreen trees, of the genus Swietenia, mostly used to make furniture.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mahogany |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈhɒɡəni/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #19,890 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mahogany” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mahogany is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /məˈhɒɡəni/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,890 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for mahogany, with forms such as "amhogany", "mahgoany", and "mahhogany". 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 is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: A word of unknown origin, concocted in either English or Middle Dutch from one or more exotic phytonyms and common European words. alternative etymologies Alternatively from Portuguese mogano, mógono, obsolete forms of mogno, itself of unknown origin (often… The correct English form is mahogany, spelled M-A-H-O-G-A-N-Y.
Definition
- 1The valuable wood of any of various tropical American evergreen trees, of the genus Swietenia, mostly used to make furniture.
- 2Any of the trees from which such wood comes.
- 3(by extension) Any of various kinds of trees, the timber of which resembles that of trees the genus Swietenia.
- 4A Cornish drink made from gin and treacle.
- 5A reddish-brown color, like that of mahogany wood.
- 6A table made from mahogany wood; a dining table.
Etymology
A word of unknown origin, concocted in either English or Middle Dutch from one or more exotic phytonyms and common European words. alternative etymologies Alternatively from Portuguese mogano, mógono, obsolete forms of mogno, itself of unknown origin (often suggested to be from the English word instead of the reverse), perhaps from an extinct indigenous language, such as a Mayan language originally spoken in Honduras or a South American language, but no known cognates survive. Another theory attempts to link Yoruba moganwo (“trees”, literally “tall ones”), but this has been criticized.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amhogany,mahgoany,mahhogany,mahoagny,mahoganny,mahoganyy,mahogayn,mahoggany,mahognay,maohgany,mhaogany,mmahogany
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mahogany - 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 “mahogany”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-H-O-G-A-N-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /məˈhɒɡəni/ (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
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.