cello
/ˈtʃɛləʊ/
"cello" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cello” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #19,779. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #19,779
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) C-G-D-A and an endpin to support its weight, usually played with a bow.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cello · cello · English
cello · rank #19,779 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,779
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH Cassie
Nearest frequency peer: Cassie (-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 “cello”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Cairns
Cairns
80,225 corpus weight
- Caracas
Caracas
80,224 corpus weight
- Cassie
Cassie
80,223 corpus weight
- cello
cello
80,222 corpus weight
- Celsius
Celsius
80,221 corpus weight
- certificati…
certifications
80,220 corpus weight
What this shows “cello” 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 | cello |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtʃɛləʊ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,779 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cello”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around cello (IPA /ˈtʃɛləʊ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #19,779 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) C-G-D-A and an endpin to support its weight, usually played with a bow.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for cello, with forms such as "ccello", "celo", and "celol". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CEO", "Clo", "colo", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of violoncello, the original name, from Italian violoncello (“little violone”), from violone (“an early form of the double bass”) + -cello (“-elle”, forming diminutives), violone (“big viola”) itself being derived from viola + -one (“-oon”, forming… The correct English form is cello, spelled C-E-L-L-O.
Definition
- 1A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) C-G-D-A and an endpin to support its weight, usually played with a bow.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cello appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I haven't always been this cool because I haven't always played guitar. I started out on the cello. Yeah, the cello is a wonderful, beautiful instrument. It's cool to be an adult that plays the cello. Being a kid that played the cello sucked, cause there's no way to be cool when your instrument is larger than you. When you walk to school with a cello you'…
And the cello concerto was strikingly different on Sunday: at Weill, the ensemble included two violinists and one violist, cellist, bassist and lutenist, but on Sunday four more violinists, a second violist and a harpsichordist were added to give the ripieno sections of the fast movements a heftier punch than the smaller group delivered.
Etymology
Clipping of violoncello, the original name, from Italian violoncello (“little violone”), from violone (“an early form of the double bass”) + -cello (“-elle”, forming diminutives), violone (“big viola”) itself being derived from viola + -one (“-oon”, forming augmentatives).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccello
- celo
- celol
- clelo
- ecllo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cello - 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 "cello", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).