English homophones
Nicholson/Nicolson
"Nicholson" (#16,285 written frequency) beats "Nicolson" (#48,923) in this 2-word /ˈnɪkəlsən/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈnɪkəlsən/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "Nicholson" leads at #16,285, with "Nicolson" trailing at #48,923.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "nic" then splits - "Nicholson" (9 letters) vs "Nicolson" (8).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across Nicholson, Nicolson: cilnos. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
Nicholson
9 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCCVCCVC
Inventory chilnos · private h
Nicolson
8 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVCCVC
Inventory cilnos · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "Nicholson" when you mean: A surname transferred from the given name.
- Write "Nicolson" when you mean: A surname originating as a patronymic.
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 (Nicholson, Nicolson). Here's where to go from here.
- "Nicholson" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #16,285 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: Nicholas · Nicolas. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "Nicholson, Nicolson" 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.