mallam
"mallam" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mallam” is uncommon English (frequency #96,188 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,188
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In Africa, a teacher of the Qur'an.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mallam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #96,188 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mallam” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
mallam is uncommon English at frequency #96,188 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In Africa, a teacher of the Qur'an.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for mallam, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim, “teacher”). The correct English form is mallam, spelled M-A-L-L-A-M.
Definition
- 1In Africa, a teacher of the Qur'an.
Etymology
From Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim, “teacher”).
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 “mallam”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-L-L-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.