citrus
/ˈsɪtɹəs/
"citrus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“citrus” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,301 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,301
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several shrubs or trees of the genus Citrus in the family Rutaceae.
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 | citrus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪtɹəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #13,301 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “citrus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for citrus is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪtɹəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,301 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for citrus, with forms such as "ccitrus", "cirtus", and "citrrus". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "Cyrus", "Cyprus", "cites", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin citrus (“a citron tree, thuja”), probably via Etruscan from Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros); compare Middle English citurtre, cytyr tre. Thus a possible doublet of cedar. The correct English form is citrus, spelled C-I-T-R-U-S.
Definition
- 1Any of several shrubs or trees of the genus Citrus in the family Rutaceae.
- 2The fruit of such plants, generally spherical, oblate, or prolate, consisting of an outer glandular skin (called zest), an inner white skin (called pith or albedo), and generally between 8 and 16 sectors filled with pulp consisting of cells with one end attached to the inner skin. Citrus fruits include orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, and citron.
Etymology
From Latin citrus (“a citron tree, thuja”), probably via Etruscan from Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros); compare Middle English citurtre, cytyr tre. Thus a possible doublet of cedar.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccitrus,cirtus,citrrus,citrsu,citruss,cittrus,citurs,ctirus,ictrus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of citrus - 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
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Using “citrus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-I-T-R-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪtɹəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Cyrus” - see the side-by-side comparison. citrus vs Cyrus
- 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.