centre
/ˈsɛntə/
"centre" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“centre” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,180 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,180
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Australia, British, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa standard spelling of center.
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 | centre |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛntə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,180 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “centre” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for centre is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɛntə/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,180 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Australia, British, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa standard spelling of center.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for centre, with forms such as "ccentre", "cenntre", and "cenrte". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "cents", "conte", "century", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English center, centre, from Middle French centre, from Latin centrum, from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron), from κεντεῖν (kenteîn, “to prick, goad”). Doublet of centrum. The correct English form is centre, spelled C-E-N-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1Australia, British, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa standard spelling of center.
Etymology
From Middle English center, centre, from Middle French centre, from Latin centrum, from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron), from κεντεῖν (kenteîn, “to prick, goad”). Doublet of centrum.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccentre,cenntre,cenrte,centrre,centtre,cetnre,cnetre,ecntre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of centre - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "centre"?
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Using “centre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-E-N-T-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɛntə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cents” - see the side-by-side comparison. centre vs cents
- 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.