collect
/kəˈlɛkt/
"collect" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“collect” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,802 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #3,802
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To gather together; amass.
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 | collect |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kəˈlɛkt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,802 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “collect” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for collect is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəˈlɛkt/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,802 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 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 collect, with forms such as "ccollect", "clolect", and "colect". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "college", "correct", "connect", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English collecten, a borrowing from Old French collecter, from Medieval Latin collectare (“to collect money”), from Latin collecta (“a collection of money, in Late Latin a meeting, assemblage, in Medieval Latin a tax, also an assembly for prayer… The correct English form is collect, spelled C-O-L-L-E-C-T.
Definition
- 1To gather together; amass.
- 2To get; particularly, get from someone.
- 3To accumulate (a number of similar or related objects), particularly for a hobby or recreation.
- 4To pick up or fetch
- 5To form a conclusion; to deduce, infer. (Compare gather, get.)
- 6To collect payments.
- 7To come together in a group or mass.
- 8To infer; to conclude.
- 9To collide with or crash into (another vehicle or obstacle).
Etymology
From Middle English collecten, a borrowing from Old French collecter, from Medieval Latin collectare (“to collect money”), from Latin collecta (“a collection of money, in Late Latin a meeting, assemblage, in Medieval Latin a tax, also an assembly for prayer, a prayer”), feminine of collectus, past participle of colligere, conligere (“to gather together, collect, consider, conclude, infer”), from com- (“together”) + legere (“to gather”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather, collect”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccollect,clolect,colect,colelct,collcet,collecct,collectt,colletc,ocllect
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of collect - 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 “collect”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-L-L-E-C-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəˈlɛkt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “college” - see the side-by-side comparison. collect vs college
- 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.