alb
/ˈælb/
"alb" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alb” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #45,776 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #45,776
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A long, white robe worn by priests and other ministers, underneath most of the other vestments.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | alb |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈælb/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #45,776 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alb” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for alb is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈælb/. Corpus data places it at rank #45,776 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A long, white robe worn by priests and other ministers, underneath most of the other vestments.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for alb, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "at", "an", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English aube, awbe, albe, abbe, from Late Old English albe (but later reinforced by Old French aube, Medieval Latin alba), borrowed from Latin alba (as in tunica alba (“white tunic”), vestis alba (“white garment”)), feminine of albus (“white”). … The correct English form is alb, spelled A-L-B.
Definition
- 1A long, white robe worn by priests and other ministers, underneath most of the other vestments.
Etymology
From Middle English aube, awbe, albe, abbe, from Late Old English albe (but later reinforced by Old French aube, Medieval Latin alba), borrowed from Latin alba (as in tunica alba (“white tunic”), vestis alba (“white garment”)), feminine of albus (“white”). Doublet of alba.
This word in other languages
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “alb”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈælb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “as” - see the side-by-side comparison. alb vs as
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.