nonna
/ˈnɒnə/
"nonna" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nonna” is uncommon English (frequency #74,354 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,354
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A grandmother, especially one with Italian ancestry.
Corpus desk
Index EN-nonna · nonna · English
nonna · rank #74,354 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,354
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH nomen
Nearest frequency peer: nomen (-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 “nonna”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- naturalness
naturalness
25,658 corpus weight
- necromancy
necromancy
25,657 corpus weight
- newish
newish
25,654 corpus weight
- nomen
nomen
25,648 corpus weight
- nonna
nonna
25,647 corpus weight
- ofer
ofer
25,640 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “nonna” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nonna |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnɒnə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #74,354 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “nonna” in English
Rare enough to double-check
nonna is uncommon English at frequency #74,354 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈnɒnə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A grandmother, especially one with Italian ancestry.".
No misspelling variants are generated for nonna in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Italian nonna. Doublet of nun. The correct English form is nonna, spelled N-O-N-N-A.
Definition
- 1A grandmother, especially one with Italian ancestry.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how nonna appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
An article last month in The Daily News talked about Enoteca Maria, a restaurant in Staten Island that has no professional chef, just a rotating roster of eight nonnas, or grandmothers, from different regions of Italy.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian nonna. Doublet of nun.
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 "nonna", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).