wannabe

adj

The verdict

“wannabe” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #59,484 among 351 “W” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,484
frequency rank, Portuguese
351
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - que pretende ser algo

Key facts for wannabe
PropertyValue
Headwordwannabe
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
Letters7
Frequency rank#59,484
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “wannabe” sits in Portuguese frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). wannabe lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wannabe is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #59,484 among 351 “W” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for wannabe in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Portuguese patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, 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 spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is wannabe, spelled W-A-N-N-A-B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    que pretende ser algo
  2. 2
    que pretende ser algo ou alguém, sem ter as qualidades necessárias

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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wannabe"?
"wannabe" is spelled W-A-N-N-A-B-E.
What does "wannabe" mean?
As an adjective, "wannabe" means: que pretende ser algo
What language does "wannabe" come from?
"wannabe" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “wannabe”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Portuguese spelling is W-A-N-N-A-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words

Other uncommon Portuguese 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list