colour

[ˈkʌlə]

/[ˈkʌlə]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“colour” has 8 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #39,273. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#39,273
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Farbe

Corpus desk

Index DE-colour · colour · German

colour · rank #39,273 · 8 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #39,273
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH clou

Nearest frequency peer: clou (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „colour“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „colour“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

colour vs couleur
71% similar
colour vs clou
67% similar
colour vs cloud
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for colour
PropertyValue
Headwordcolour
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈkʌlə]
Letters6
Frequency rank#39,273
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „colour“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).colourliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „clou“ (#39,272), „combat“ (#39,274), „Clare“ (#39,271). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „colour“ bei #39,273. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around colour (IPA [ˈkʌlə]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #39,273 among 1,273 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for colour, with forms such as "ccolour", "cloour", and "collour". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "couleur", "clou", "cloud", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is colour, spelled C-O-L-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Farbe
  2. 2
    Farbton
  3. 3
    Hautfarbe
  4. 4
    Flagge, Fahne

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how colour appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The favourite colour of Thomas is maroon.
  2. Colours cannot be shown on old black-and-white televisions.

Synonyms

flagbanner

This word in other languages

couleur(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccolour
  • cloour
  • collour
  • coloru
  • colourr
  • coluor
  • coolur
  • oclour

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of colour - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccolour1cloour2collour1coloru2colourr1coluor2coolur2oclour2
Edit distance from "colour"

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "colour"?
"colour" is spelled C-O-L-O-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈkʌlə].
What does "colour" mean?
As a noun, "colour" means: Farbe
What words are commonly confused with "colour"?
"colour" is commonly confused with "couleur", "clou", "cloud". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "colour"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "colour" is [ˈkʌlə]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "colour" come from?
"colour" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "colour", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

combat#39,274dickem#39,285Dogmen#39,290erhebe#39,318

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

blunt8 variantsEverett8 variantsfieser8 variantsGallier8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list