manna

/ˈmænə/

//ˈmænə// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"manna" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“manna” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #37,082) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#37,082
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus.

Corpus desk

Index EN-manna · manna · English

manna · rank #37,082 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,082
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH mami

Nearest frequency peer: mami (-2 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 neighbours of confusable “manna”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “manna” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

manna vs many
60% similar
manna vs Maya
40% similar
manna vs mans
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for manna
PropertyValue
Headwordmanna
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmænə/
Letters5
Frequency rank#37,082
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “manna”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).mannalands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “mami” (#37,080), “malnourished” (#37,079), “maddening” (#37,078). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “manna” is #37,082. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for manna is neighbouring look-alikes ("many", "Maya", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈmænə/. Frequency #37,082 among 4,057 “M” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for manna, with forms such as "amnna", "manan", and "mmanna". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "many", "Maya", "mans", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin manna, from Ancient Greek μάννα (mánna), from Hebrew מן (mān, “'manna”). The correct English form is manna, spelled M-A-N-N-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus.
  2. 2
    Any boon which comes into one's hands by good luck.
  3. 3
    The sugary sap of the manna gum tree which oozes out from holes drilled by insects and falls to the ground around the tree.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how manna appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
  2. In the juriſdiction of Huquang there are ſeveral places where they gather up great store of Manna, which the Natives take for a Frozen Dew.

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin manna, from Ancient Greek μάννα (mánna), from Hebrew מן (mān, “'manna”).

This word in other languages

maná(Español)manne(Français)Manna(Deutsch)maná(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amnna
  • manan
  • mmanna
  • mnana

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of manna - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

amnna2manan2mmanna1mnana2
Edit distance from "manna"

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

How do you spell "manna"?
"manna" is spelled M-A-N-N-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmænə/.
What does "manna" mean?
As a noun, "manna" means: Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus.
What words are commonly confused with "manna"?
"manna" is commonly confused with "many", "Maya", "mans". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "manna"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "manna" is /ˈmænə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "manna"?
From Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin manna, from Ancient Greek μάννα (mánna), from Hebrew מן (mān, “'manna”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "manna", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Macao#37,077lusty#37,076Menlo#37,090mille#37,096

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list