penna

noun

"penna" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“penna” is uncommon English (frequency #73,518 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,518
frequency rank, English
46,516
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - a contour feather

Key facts for penna
PropertyValue
Headwordpenna
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#73,518
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “penna” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). penna lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

penna is uncommon English at frequency #73,518 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "a contour feather".

No misspelling variants are generated for penna in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin penna (“feather”). Doublet of panne, pen, and pinna. The correct English form is penna, spelled P-E-N-N-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    a contour feather

Etymology

From Latin penna (“feather”). Doublet of panne, pen, and pinna.

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 "penna"?
"penna" is spelled P-E-N-N-A.
What does "penna" mean?
As a noun, "penna" means: a contour feather
What is the origin of the word "penna"?
From Latin penna (“feather”). Doublet of panne, pen, and pinna. 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.

Using “penna”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-E-N-N-A - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list