Maori
/ˈmaʊɹi/
"maori" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Maori” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,269 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #21,269
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A member of the indigenous people of New Zealand.
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 | Maori |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmaʊɹi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #21,269 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Maori” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Maori is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmaʊɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,269 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A member of the indigenous people of New Zealand.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Maori, with forms such as "amori", "maoir", and "maorri". 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, "mar", "MRI", "moi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Māori māori (“aborigine, native; normal, ordinary, plain”). Doublet of Maoli. The correct English form is Maori, spelled M-A-O-R-I.
Definition
- 1A member of the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori māori (“aborigine, native; normal, ordinary, plain”). Doublet of Maoli.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amori,maoir,maorri,mmaori,moari
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Maori - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Maori”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-O-R-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmaʊɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mar” - see the side-by-side comparison. Maori vs mar
- 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.