# celibacy vs celibate

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### celibacy
*noun · IPA /ˈsɛləbəsi/ · frequency rank #32,312*
Abstaining from marriage; the state of being unmarried.

### celibate
*adjective · IPA /ˈsɛləbət/ · frequency rank #40,169*
Not married.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/celibacy-vs-celibate