marimba
/məˈɹɪm.bə/
"marimba" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“marimba” is uncommon English (frequency #67,624 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,624
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A percussion instrument with African origins, similar to a xylophone with resonators, but much lower in range and darker in timbre.
Corpus desk
Index EN-marimba · marimba · English
marimba · rank #67,624 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,624
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH marly
Nearest frequency peer: marly (+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.
Long-tail ranks near “marimba”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- mahalo
mahalo
32,385 corpus weight
- Malema
Malema
32,382 corpus weight
- manufactory
manufactory
32,380 corpus weight
- marimba
marimba
32,377 corpus weight
- marly
marly
32,376 corpus weight
- matin
matin
32,371 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “marimba” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | marimba |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈɹɪm.bə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #67,624 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “marimba” in English
Rare enough to double-check
marimba is uncommon English at frequency #67,624 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /məˈɹɪm.bə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A percussion instrument with African origins, similar to a xylophone with resonators, but much lower in range and darker in timbre.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for marimba, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Portuguese marimba, via a Bantu source, perhaps Kimbundu marimba (“xylophone”). The correct English form is marimba, spelled M-A-R-I-M-B-A.
Definition
- 1A percussion instrument with African origins, similar to a xylophone with resonators, but much lower in range and darker in timbre.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how marimba appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The default ringtone for your iPhone is a marimba sound, but if you'd like to change it, start at the Home screen, then tap on the Settings icon.
Etymology
From Portuguese marimba, via a Bantu source, perhaps Kimbundu marimba (“xylophone”).
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "marimba", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).