The spelling of the word "mashaba" can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The word is pronounced as /məˈʃɑːbə/, where the symbol /ə/ represents the schwa vowel sound that occurs in the second syllable. The symbol /ʃ/ represents the 'sh' sound, and the symbol /ɑː/ represents the 'a' sound in "father". The final syllable is pronounced as /bə/ with the symbol /b/ representing the 'b' sound. Overall, the spelling of "mashaba" is faithful to its phonetic transcription in IPA.