COBOL
/ˈkoʊbɒl/
"cobol" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“COBOL” is uncommon English (frequency #53,449 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #53,449
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A programming language developed in the late 1950s, especially for business applications.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cobol · COBOL · English
COBOL · rank #53,449 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #53,449
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH CNY
Nearest frequency peer: CNY (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “COBOL”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cicada
cicada
46,555 corpus weight
- climes
climes
46,554 corpus weight
- CNY
CNY
46,553 corpus weight
- COBOL
COBOL
46,552 corpus weight
- Collett
Collett
46,549 corpus weight
- collude
collude
46,548 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “COBOL” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | COBOL |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈkoʊbɒl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #53,449 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “COBOL” in English
Rare enough to double-check
COBOL is uncommon English at frequency #53,449 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈkoʊbɒl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A programming language developed in the late 1950s, especially for business applications.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for COBOL, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Acronym of common business-oriented language, perhaps coined by American computer scientist and aerospace engineer Bob Bemer. The correct English form is COBOL, spelled C-O-B-O-L.
Definition
- 1A programming language developed in the late 1950s, especially for business applications.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how COBOL appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The problem in COBOL is that, while there exists a standard COBOL, ANS (American National Standard) COBOL, no computer manufacturer offers a COBOL compiler that is both full and pure ANS.
Because COBOL does not have a date type, some implementations rely instead on a system whereby all dates are coded to a reference point. The most commonly used is May 20, 1875, as this was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the Convention du Mètre.
Etymology
Acronym of common business-oriented language, perhaps coined by American computer scientist and aerospace engineer Bob Bemer.
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 "COBOL", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).