vara

noun

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

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

The verdict

“vara” is uncommon English (frequency #72,871 among 969 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,871
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 83.7 cm.

Corpus desk

Index EN-vara · vara · English

vara · rank #72,871 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,871
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH vampirism

Nearest frequency peer: vampirism (-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 “vara”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for vara
PropertyValue
Headwordvara
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#72,871
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “vara” 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).varafalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “vampirism” (#72,870), “varia” (#72,872), “Uz” (#72,869). Among 969 “V” headwords, “vara” is #72,871. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

vara is uncommon English at frequency #72,871 among 969 “V” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for vara in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese vara (“rod”), from Latin vāra (“fork”). The correct English form is vara, spelled V-A-R-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 83.7 cm.
  2. 2
    A traditional Portuguese unit of length, equivalent to about 1.1 m.
  3. 3
    A traditional Spanish unit of area, equivalent to about 0.7 m².

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese vara (“rod”), from Latin vāra (“fork”).

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 "vara"?
"vara" is spelled V-A-R-A.
What does "vara" mean?
As a noun, "vara" means: A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 83.7 cm.
What is the origin of the word "vara"?
Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese vara (“rod”), from Latin vāra (“fork”). 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 "vara", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

VESA#72,875WLAN#72,901Tano#72,814aker#72,933

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list