colleagues
/ˈkɑliɡz/
"colleagues" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“colleagues” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,360. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #4,360
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of colleague
Corpus desk
Index EN-colleagues · colleagues · English
colleagues · rank #4,360 · 12 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,360
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 43,570
- PHOTO-FINISH coaching
Nearest frequency peer: coaching (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “colleagues”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- cited
cited
95,644 corpus weight
- clay
clay
95,643 corpus weight
- coaching
coaching
95,642 corpus weight
- colleagues
colleagues
95,641 corpus weight
- constructed
constructed
95,640 corpus weight
- dated
dated
95,639 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “colleagues” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | colleagues |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɑliɡz/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #4,360 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “colleagues” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around colleagues (IPA /ˈkɑliɡz/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,360 among 43,570 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "plural of colleague".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for colleagues, with forms such as "ccolleagues", "cloleagues", and "coleagues". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "colleges", "colleague", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is colleagues, spelled C-O-L-L-E-A-G-U-E-S.
Definition
- 1plural of colleague
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccolleagues
- cloleagues
- coleagues
- colelagues
- collaegues
- colleageus
- colleaggues
- colleaguess
- colleaguse
- colleauges
- collegaues
- oclleagues
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of colleagues - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "colleagues"?
What does "colleagues" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "colleagues"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "colleagues", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).
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.