# Cologne

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /kəˈloʊn/ · frequency rank #13,484

## Definitions
1. The largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the Rhine River.
2. A city and town in Minnesota, United States.

## Etymology
From Middle English Coloyne, from Old French Cologne, from Latin Colōnia Agrippīna (“Agrippine Colony”), a settlement named after Agrippina, the mother of Roman Emperor Nero; colōnia (“colony”) comes from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from verb colo, colere (“till, cultivate, worship”). Doublet of Colonia, colony, and Köln, from German.

## Easily confused with
- **colon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cologne-vs-colon)
- **colony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cologne-vs-colony)
- **colonel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cologne-vs-colonel)
- **clone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clone-vs-cologne)

## Common misspellings (10)
`ccologne`, `cloogne`, `colgone`, `collogne`, `cologen`, `cologgne`, `colognne`, `colonge`, `coolgne`, `oclogne`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cologne