English homophones

cymbals/symbols

"symbols" (#6,633 written frequency) beats "cymbals" (#39,272) in this 2-word /ˈsɪmbəlz/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage

Frequency splits the cluster

These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈsɪmbəlz/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "symbols" leads at #6,633, with "cymbals" trailing at #39,272.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • No shared spelling stem: "cymbals" is 7 letters, "symbols" is 7; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across cymbals, symbols: blmsy. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • cymbals

    7 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCVCC

    Inventory abclmsy · private ac

  • symbols

    7 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCVCC

    Inventory blmosy · private o

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "cymbals" when you mean: plural of cymbal
  • Write "symbols" when you mean: plural of symbol

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

  • cymbalsccymbals · cmybals · cybmals · cymabls · cymballs · cymbalss
  • symbolssmybols · ssymbols · sybmols · symbbols · symblos · symbolls

Each spelling

cymbals

noun · /ˈsɪmbəlz/ · #39,272 frequency

plural of cymbal

symbols

noun · /ˈsɪmbəlz/ · #6,633 frequency

plural of symbol

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (cymbals, symbols). Here's where to go from here.

  • "symbols" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #6,633 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: Karen · caron. Nearby cluster
  • Each spelling in "cymbals, symbols" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list