celebrity

/sɪˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ti/

//sɪˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ti// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"celebrity" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“celebrity” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,355. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,355
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A rite or ceremony.

Corpus desk

Index EN-celebrity · celebrity · English

celebrity · rank #4,355 · 14 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,355
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH celebration

Nearest frequency peer: celebration (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “celebrity”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “celebrity” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

celebrity vs celebrate
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for celebrity
PropertyValue
Headwordcelebrity
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sɪˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ti/
Letters9
Frequency rank#4,355
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “celebrity”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).celebritylands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “celebration” (#4,354), “certificate” (#4,356), “carrier” (#4,353). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “celebrity” is #4,355. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around celebrity (IPA /sɪˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,355 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for celebrity, with forms such as "ccelebrity", "ceelbrity", and "celberity". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "celebrate", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English celebritē, from Old French celebrite (compare French célébrité), from Latin celēbritās. The correct English form is celebrity, spelled C-E-L-E-B-R-I-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A rite or ceremony.
  2. 2
    Fame, renown; the state of being famous or talked-about.
  3. 3
    A person who has a high degree of recognition by the general population for his or her success or accomplishments; a famous person.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how celebrity appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. "What do you put in your paper?" I asked, […] "Oh, news," said he, "and dull articles, and things about Celebrities. If you know any Celebrities, now?" Noël asked him what Celebrities were. "Oh, the Queen and the Princes, and people with titles, and people who write, or sing, or act—or do something clever or wicked."
  2. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

Etymology

From Middle English celebritē, from Old French celebrite (compare French célébrité), from Latin celēbritās.

This word in other languages

celebridad(Español)célébrité(Français)Prominenter(Deutsch)celebridade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccelebrity
  • ceelbrity
  • celberity
  • celebbrity
  • celebirty
  • celebritty
  • celebrityy
  • celebriyt
  • celebrrity
  • celebrtiy
  • celerbity
  • cellebrity
  • cleebrity
  • eclebrity

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of celebrity - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ccelebrity1ceelbrity2celberity2celebbrity1celebirty2celebritty1celebrityy1celebriyt2
Edit distance from "celebrity"

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

How do you spell "celebrity"?
"celebrity" is spelled C-E-L-E-B-R-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /sɪˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ti/.
What does "celebrity" mean?
As a noun, "celebrity" means: A rite or ceremony.
What words are commonly confused with "celebrity"?
"celebrity" is commonly confused with "celebrate". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "celebrity"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "celebrity" is /sɪˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ti/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "celebrity"?
From Middle English celebritē, from Old French celebrite (compare French célébrité), from Latin celēbritās. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "celebrity", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

attacking#4,348execution#4,374similarly#4,334separated#4,332

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

framework14 variantsfranchise14 variantsguaranteed14 variantslifestyle14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list