marimba
[maˈɾĩmba]
The verdict
“marimba” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #52,382 among 36,142 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,382
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 36,142
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Instrumento de percusión, un idiófono, de forma parecida al xilófono. Consiste en un paralelepípedo de madera con una boca superior cuadrangular recogida por los bordes y que ensancha en la parte s...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | marimba |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [maˈɾĩmba] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #52,382 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “marimba” sits in Spanish frequency
Rare enough to double-check
marimba is uncommon Spanish at frequency #52,382 among 36,142 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [maˈɾĩmba]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Instrumento de percusión, un idiófono, de forma parecida al xilófono. Consiste en un paralelepípedo de madera con una boca superior cuadrangular recogida por los bordes y que ensancha en la parte s...".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for marimba, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is marimba, spelled M-A-R-I-M-B-A.
Definition
- 1Instrumento de percusión, un idiófono, de forma parecida al xilófono. Consiste en un paralelepípedo de madera con una boca superior cuadrangular recogida por los bordes y que ensancha en la parte superior y se estrecha en la parte inferior hasta cerrarse en forma piramidal. Posee una serie de tablas delgadas (lengüetas sonoras) de distintos tamaños, dispuestas de mayor a menor, excavadas por la parte inferior. Estas lengüetas tienen perforaciones en sus extremos, y por esos orificios se atan con cordones que las sostienen suspendidas de clavijas verticales, fijas en un armazón trapezoidal. Cada tecla tiene su propia caja de resonancia.
This word in other languages
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “marimba”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is M-A-R-I-M-B-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [maˈɾĩmba] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Other uncommon Spanish 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.