English homophones
caliber/calibre
"caliber" (#12,016 written frequency) beats "calibre" (#22,024) in this 2-word /ˈkæl.ɪ.bə(ɹ)/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈkæl.ɪ.bə(ɹ)/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "caliber" leads at #12,016, with "calibre" trailing at #22,024.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "calib" then splits - "caliber" (7 letters) vs "calibre" (7).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across caliber, calibre: abceilr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
caliber
7 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVCVC
Inventory abceilr · no private letters vs siblings
calibre
7 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVCCV
Inventory abceilr · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "caliber" when you mean: Diameter of the bore of a firearm, typically measured between opposite lands.
- Write "calibre" when you mean: Alternative form of caliber.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (caliber, calibre). Here's where to go from here.
- "caliber" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #12,016 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Casey · Kasey. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "caliber, calibre" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.