celibacy
/ˈsɛləbəsi/
"celibacy" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“celibacy” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,312. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #32,312
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Abstaining from marriage; the state of being unmarried.
Corpus desk
Index EN-celibacy · celibacy · English
celibacy · rank #32,312 · 12 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-MID #32,312
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH celiac
Nearest frequency peer: celiac (-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 “celibacy”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- caliph
caliph
67,694 corpus weight
- Carta
Carta
67,691 corpus weight
- celiac
celiac
67,690 corpus weight
- celibacy
celibacy
67,689 corpus weight
- chancery
chancery
67,687 corpus weight
- Chiu
Chiu
67,683 corpus weight
What this shows “celibacy” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | celibacy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛləbəsi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #32,312 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “celibacy”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around celibacy (IPA /ˈsɛləbəsi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,312 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for celibacy, with forms such as "ccelibacy", "ceilbacy", and "celbiacy". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "celibate", "celiac", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin caelibātus (“celibacy, a single life”), from caelebs (“unmarried”). The correct English form is celibacy, spelled C-E-L-I-B-A-C-Y.
Definition
- 1Abstaining from marriage; the state of being unmarried.
- 2Abstinence from sexual relations.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how celibacy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They came to believe that men, who would live a godly life, must view marriage as a sin and choose a life of celibacy.
I could document this defense of celibacy. Unmarried women show up very well in all the tests of mental health.
Etymology
From Latin caelibātus (“celibacy, a single life”), from caelebs (“unmarried”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccelibacy
- ceilbacy
- celbiacy
- celiabcy
- celibaccy
- celibacyy
- celibayc
- celibbacy
- celibcay
- cellibacy
- cleibacy
- eclibacy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of celibacy - 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
How do you spell "celibacy"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "celibacy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).