Ottumwa

/əˈtʌmwə/

//əˈtʌmwə// name

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

"ottumwa" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Ottumwa” is uncommon English (frequency #78,904 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,904
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A city, the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ottumwa · Ottumwa · English

Ottumwa · rank #78,904 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,904
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH otitis

Nearest frequency peer: otitis (-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 “Ottumwa”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “Ottumwa” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Ottumwa
PropertyValue
HeadwordOttumwa
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/əˈtʌmwə/
Letters7
Frequency rank#78,904
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Ottumwa” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Ottumwafalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “otitis” (#78,903), “Ouyang” (#78,906), “orl” (#78,901). Among 1,431 “O” headwords, “Ottumwa” is #78,904. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Ottumwa is uncommon English at frequency #78,904 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /əˈtʌmwə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for Ottumwa in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is Ottumwa, spelled O-T-T-U-M-W-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A city, the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States.
  2. 2
    An unincorporated community in Coffey County, Kansas, United States.
  3. 3
    An unincorporated community in Haakon County, South Dakota, United States.

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 "Ottumwa"?
"Ottumwa" is spelled O-T-T-U-M-W-A. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈtʌmwə/.
What does "Ottumwa" mean?
As a proper noun, "Ottumwa" means: A city, the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States.
How do you pronounce "Ottumwa"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Ottumwa" is /əˈtʌmwə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Ottumwa" come from?
"Ottumwa" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "Ottumwa", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ovulate#78,908OpenBSD#78,897Olicity#78,892parolee#78,919

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list