college

/ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ/

//ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"college" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“college” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #538. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#538
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An academic institution.

Corpus desk

Index EN-college · college · English

college · rank #538 · 8 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #538
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH bring

Nearest frequency peer: bring (-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 “college”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “college” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

college vs collie
71% similar
college vs collide
71% similar
college vs colleges
88% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for college
PropertyValue
Headwordcollege
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#538
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “college”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).collegelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “bring” (#537), “current” (#539), “wasn't” (#536). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “college” is #538. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around college (IPA /ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #538 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 14 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for college, with forms such as "ccollege", "clolege", and "colege". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "collie", "collide", "colleges", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-der.? Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der.? Proto-Italic *lēks Latin lēx Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Pr… The correct English form is college, spelled C-O-L-L-E-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An academic institution.
  2. 2
    An academic institution.
  3. 3
    An academic institution.
  4. 4
    An academic institution.
  5. 5
    An academic institution.
  6. 6
    An academic institution.
  7. 7
    An academic institution.
  8. 8
    An academic institution.
  9. 9
    An academic institution.
  10. 10
    An academic institution.
  11. 11
    An academic institution.
  12. 12
    An academic institution.
  13. 13
    A group of people sharing common purposes or goals, especially ecclesiastics or professionals; a corporate group; a group of colleagues.
  14. 14
    An electoral college.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how college appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. College of Engineering
  2. She's still in college

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-der.? Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der.? Proto-Italic *lēks Latin lēx Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin lēgō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ Proto-Italic *-ā Latin -a Latin collēga Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ium Latin collēgiumbor. Old French college Middle French collegebor. Middle English college English college From Middle English college, from Middle French college, from Old French college, from Latin collēgium. Doublet of collegium.

Synonyms

departmentfacultyschool

This word in other languages

universidad(Español)collège(Français)Hochschule(Deutsch)IES(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccollege
  • clolege
  • colege
  • colelge
  • colleeg
  • collegge
  • collgee
  • ocllege

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of college - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ccollege1clolege2colege1colelge2colleeg2collegge1collgee2ocllege2
Edit distance from "college"

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 "college"?
"college" is spelled C-O-L-L-E-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ/.
What does "college" mean?
As a noun, "college" means: An academic institution.
What words are commonly confused with "college"?
"college" is commonly confused with "collie", "collide", "colleges". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "college"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "college" is /ˈkɒlɪd͡ʒ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "college"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-der.? Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der.? Proto-Italic *lēks Latin lēx Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-Europea... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "college", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

current#539example#540program#545process#551

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

bring8 variantsfront8 variantsmarch8 variantsstudy8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list