Colin
/ˈkɒlɪn/
"colin" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Colin” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #6,120. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #6,120
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A male given name from Ancient Greek.
Corpus desk
Index EN-colin · Colin · English
Colin · rank #6,120 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #6,120
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH consisting
Nearest frequency peer: consisting (+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 “Colin”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Carlos
Carlos
93,884 corpus weight
- challenged
challenged
93,883 corpus weight
- Colin
Colin
93,881 corpus weight
- consisting
consisting
93,880 corpus weight
- cult
cult
93,879 corpus weight
- dairy
dairy
93,878 corpus weight
What this shows “Colin” 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 | Colin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒlɪn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,120 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Colin”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around Colin (IPA /ˈkɒlɪn/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #6,120 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Colin, with forms such as "ccolin", "cloin", and "coiln". 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, "con", "corn", "colt", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Diminutive of Coll, a medieval short form of Nicholas. It has also been used to anglicize Irish Coileán and Scottish Gaelic Cailean. The correct English form is Colin, spelled C-O-L-I-N.
Definition
- 1A male given name from Ancient Greek.
- 2A rather rare surname originating as a patronymic, variant of Collin.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Colin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
That iolly shepheard, which there piped, was / Poore Colin Clout (who knowes not Colin Clout?)
"My parents," Powell wrote, "were British subjects, and they named me Colin (KAH-lin). Being British, they knew very well how the name was supposed to be pronounced. But when I was a young boy, there was a famous American World War II hero whose name became very popular in the streets of New York City. He was Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. He was called KOH-lin…
Etymology
Diminutive of Coll, a medieval short form of Nicholas. It has also been used to anglicize Irish Coileán and Scottish Gaelic Cailean.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccolin
- cloin
- coiln
- colinn
- colni
- oclin
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Colin - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Colin", 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 (6 here; floor ≥5).