masa

noun

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

"masa" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“masa” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #43,253) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#43,253
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.

Corpus desk

Index EN-masa · masa · English

masa · rank #43,253 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,253
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH matcha

Nearest frequency peer: matcha (+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 neighbours of confusable “masa”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “masa” 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).

masa vs MS
0% similar
masa vs may
50% similar
masa vs Mrs
25% similar

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

Key facts for masa
PropertyValue
Headwordmasa
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#43,253
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “masa”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).masalands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “matcha” (#43,254), “manifestly” (#43,251), “matchbox” (#43,255). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “masa” is #43,253. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for masa is neighbouring look-alikes ("MS", "may", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #43,253 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Gloss: "A strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for masa, with forms such as "amsa", "mmasa", and "msaa". 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, "MS", "may", "Mrs", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Japanese 柾 (masa) or 政 (masa), an abbreviation of 柾紙 (masagami) or 政紙 (masagami). The correct English form is masa, spelled M-A-S-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 柾 (masa) or 政 (masa), an abbreviation of 柾紙 (masagami) or 政紙 (masagami).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amsa
  • mmasa
  • msaa

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of masa - 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.

amsa2mmasa1msaa2
Edit distance from "masa"

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 "masa"?
"masa" is spelled M-A-S-A.
What does "masa" mean?
As a noun, "masa" means: A strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting.
What words are commonly confused with "masa"?
"masa" is commonly confused with "MS", "may", "Mrs". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "masa"?
Borrowed from Japanese 柾 (masa) or 政 (masa), an abbreviation of 柾紙 (masagami) or 政紙 (masagami). 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 "masa", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mang#43,250mair#43,249mews#43,263nome#43,283

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list