celibate
/ˈsɛləbət/
"celibate" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“celibate” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #40,169. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #40,169
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Not married.
Corpus desk
Index EN-celibate · celibate · English
celibate · rank #40,169 · 11 variants · 4 confusables
- FREQ-MID #40,169
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cay
Nearest frequency peer: cay (-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 “celibate”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- caterer
caterer
59,834 corpus weight
- cay
cay
59,833 corpus weight
- celibate
celibate
59,832 corpus weight
- chancel
chancel
59,831 corpus weight
- Chekhov
Chekhov
59,830 corpus weight
- chiming
chiming
59,829 corpus weight
What this shows “celibate” 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 | celibate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsɛləbət/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #40,169 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “celibate”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around celibate (IPA /ˈsɛləbət/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #40,169 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for celibate, with forms such as "ccelibate", "ceilbate", and "celbiate". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "climate", "celibacy", "celebrate", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from the noun (“celibacy”) or from celibacy on the model of privacy/private, etc. Alternatively, from Latin caelebs (“single”) + -ate. The correct English form is celibate, spelled C-E-L-I-B-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Not married.
- 2Abstaining from sexual relations and pleasures.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how celibate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Members of religious communities sometimes take vows to remain celibate.
Juanita went celibate for a while and then started going out with Da5id and eventually got married to him.
Etymology
Probably from the noun (“celibacy”) or from celibacy on the model of privacy/private, etc. Alternatively, from Latin caelebs (“single”) + -ate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccelibate
- ceilbate
- celbiate
- celiabte
- celibaet
- celibatte
- celibbate
- celibtae
- cellibate
- cleibate
- eclibate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of celibate - 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.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "celibate", 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 (11 here; floor ≥5).