mamma
/ˈmæmə/
"mamma" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mamma” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,130 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,130
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder.
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 | mamma |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmæmə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,130 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mamma” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mamma is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmæmə/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,130 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for mamma, with forms such as "ammma", "mamam", and "mmamma". 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, "MMA", "mmm", "Maya", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin mamma. The correct English form is mamma, spelled M-A-M-M-A.
Definition
- 1The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder.
- 2An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin mamma.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ammma,mamam,mmamma
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mamma - 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 “mamma”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-M-M-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmæmə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “MMA” - see the side-by-side comparison. mamma vs MMA
- 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.