mama
/məˈmɑː/
"mama" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mama” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,774) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #4,774
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mother, female parent.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mama · mama · English
mama · rank #4,774 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,774
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 36,575
- PHOTO-FINISH lazy
Nearest frequency peer: lazy (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “mama”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- laughed
laughed
95,230 corpus weight
- Laura
Laura
95,229 corpus weight
- lazy
lazy
95,228 corpus weight
- mama
mama
95,227 corpus weight
- marshall
marshall
95,226 corpus weight
- Mitchell
Mitchell
95,225 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “mama” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | mama |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈmɑː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #4,774 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mama” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for mama is neighbouring look-alikes ("MM", "may", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /məˈmɑː/. Frequency #4,774 among 36,575 “M” headwords. Gloss: "Mother, female parent.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for mama, with forms such as "maam", "mmaa", and "mmama". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MM", "may", "man", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally from baby talk. Possibly influenced by Middle English mome (“mother, aunt”), from Old English *mōme, from Proto-West Germanic *mōmā, from Proto-Germanic *mōmǭ (“mother, aunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂-méh₂, reduplication of *méh₂- (“mother… The correct English form is mama, spelled M-A-M-A.
Definition
- 1Mother, female parent.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how mama appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard / All died when you went away
Etymology
Originally from baby talk. Possibly influenced by Middle English mome (“mother, aunt”), from Old English *mōme, from Proto-West Germanic *mōmā, from Proto-Germanic *mōmǭ (“mother, aunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂-méh₂, reduplication of *méh₂- (“mother”), related to German Muhme (“aunt”), Latin mamma (“mother, nurse”), Irish mam (“mother”), Lithuanian mama, moma (“mother”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- maam
- mmaa
- mmama
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mama - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "mama"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mama", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency 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.