collect
/kəˈlɛkt/
"collect" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“collect” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,802. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,802
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To gather together; amass.
Corpus desk
Index EN-collect · collect · English
collect · rank #3,802 · 9 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,802
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH commerce
Nearest frequency peer: commerce (+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 “collect”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Atlanta
Atlanta
96,202 corpus weight
- bands
bands
96,201 corpus weight
- collect
collect
96,199 corpus weight
- commerce
commerce
96,198 corpus weight
- cop
cop
96,197 corpus weight
- creek
creek
96,196 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “collect” 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 | 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
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around collect (IPA /kəˈlɛkt/), averb. Corpus frequency is #3,802 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how collect appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Suzanne collected all the papers she had laid out.
The team uses special equipment to collect data on temperature, wind speed and rainfall.
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
How do you spell "collect"?
What does "collect" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "collect"?
How do you pronounce "collect"?
What is the origin of the word "collect"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "collect", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "collect". Here's where to go from here.
- "collect" maps to 7 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "college". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #3,802 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.