alma mater
\al.ma ma.tɛʁ\
The verdict
“alma mater” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Désigne la terre nourricière, la nature dans sa globalité.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | alma mater |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \al.ma ma.tɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alma mater” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for alma mater is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \al.ma ma.tɛʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for alma mater in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is alma mater, spelled A-L-M-A- -M-A-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1Désigne la terre nourricière, la nature dans sa globalité.
- 2Désigne l’université, la grande école dans laquelle une personne a étudié.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “alma mater”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-L-M-A- -M-A-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \al.ma ma.tɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.