matai
"matai" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“matai” is uncommon English (frequency #92,850 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,850
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Samoan chief.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | matai |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #92,850 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “matai” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
matai is uncommon English at frequency #92,850 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A Samoan chief.".
No misspelling variants are generated for matai in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Samoan matai. The correct English form is matai, spelled M-A-T-A-I.
Definition
- 1A Samoan chief.
Etymology
Borrowed from Samoan matai.
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 “matai”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-T-A-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.