yerba
"yerba" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“yerba” is uncommon English (frequency #64,141 among 366 “Y” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,141
- frequency rank, English
- 366
- “Y” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ilex paraguariensis, a species of holly native to southern South America; or the dried leaves and twigs of this plant, used to make the caffeine-rich beverage maté.
Corpus desk
Index EN-yerba · yerba · English
yerba · rank #64,141 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,141
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 366
- PHOTO-FINISH yeomanry
Nearest frequency peer: yeomanry (-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 “yerba”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Yael
Yael
35,864 corpus weight
- yapping
yapping
35,863 corpus weight
- yeomanry
yeomanry
35,861 corpus weight
- yerba
yerba
35,860 corpus weight
- yodel
yodel
35,859 corpus weight
- zar
zar
35,858 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “yerba” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yerba |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #64,141 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “yerba” in English
Rare enough to double-check
yerba is uncommon English at frequency #64,141 among 366 “Y” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ilex paraguariensis, a species of holly native to southern South America; or the dried leaves and twigs of this plant, used to make the caffeine-rich beverage maté.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for yerba, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Spanish yerba. Doublet of herb. The correct English form is yerba, spelled Y-E-R-B-A.
Definition
- 1Ilex paraguariensis, a species of holly native to southern South America; or the dried leaves and twigs of this plant, used to make the caffeine-rich beverage maté.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how yerba appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The storehouses at Talcahuano had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable merchandise were scattered on the shore.
This was the place at which the leaves and small sprigs of the yerba tree, when brought from the woods, were first scorched--fire being set to the logs of wood within it.
Etymology
From Spanish yerba. Doublet of herb.
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 "yerba", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).