caribou
/ˈkæɹəbu/
"caribou" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“caribou” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,953 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #29,953
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several North American subspecies Rangifer tarandus of the reindeer.
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 | caribou |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkæɹəbu/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #29,953 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “caribou” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for caribou is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkæɹəbu/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,953 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Any of several North American subspecies Rangifer tarandus of the reindeer.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for caribou, with forms such as "acribou", "cairbou", and "carbiou". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "carbon", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Canadian French caribou, from Mi'kmaq qalipu (“caribou”) (compare qalipi (“to shovel snow”)), from Proto-Algonquian *maka·lipowa (“caribou; it shovels snow”). The correct English form is caribou, spelled C-A-R-I-B-O-U.
Definition
- 1Any of several North American subspecies Rangifer tarandus of the reindeer.
Etymology
Borrowed from Canadian French caribou, from Mi'kmaq qalipu (“caribou”) (compare qalipi (“to shovel snow”)), from Proto-Algonquian *maka·lipowa (“caribou; it shovels snow”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acribou,cairbou,carbiou,caribbou,caribuo,cariobu,carribou,ccaribou,craibou
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of caribou - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “caribou”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-R-I-B-O-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkæɹəbu/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “carbon” - see the side-by-side comparison. caribou vs carbon
- 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.