wonga
/ˈwɒŋɡə/
"wonga" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wonga” is an uncommon English word, ranked #85,950 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #85,950
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Money.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wonga |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɒŋɡə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #85,950 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wonga” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wonga is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɒŋɡə/. Corpus data places it at rank #85,950 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Money.".
wonga has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Angloromani [Term?], from Romani angar (“coal”), from Sanskrit अङ्गार (áṅgāra, “charcoal, coal”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hángāras, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óngʷl̥. The English term coal was itself used as a slang term for money in England… The correct English form is wonga, spelled W-O-N-G-A.
Definition
- 1Money.
Etymology
Borrowed from Angloromani [Term?], from Romani angar (“coal”), from Sanskrit अङ्गार (áṅgāra, “charcoal, coal”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hángāras, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óngʷl̥. The English term coal was itself used as a slang term for money in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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 “wonga”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-O-N-G-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɒŋɡə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.