# colony

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkɒl.ə.ni/ · frequency rank #5,866

## Definitions
1. A geographical area under the remote control of a country; especially to extract resources or exploit labor from that area.
2. A group of people who settle an area and maintain ties to their country of origin.
3. A group of people with similar interests, occupations, or characteristics, living in a particular area; the area such people occupy.
4. A group of organisms of same or different species living together in close association.
5. An apartment complex or neighborhood.
6. A local group of Beaver Scouts.
7. A potential new chapter of a fraternity or sorority awaiting official recognition from their headquarters.

## Etymology
From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.

## Easily confused with
- **coon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-coon)
- **color** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-color)
- **corny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-corny)
- **crony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-crony)
- **colors** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-colors)
- **corona** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-corona)
- **Colton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-colton)
- **Conlon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-conlon)
- **Cooney** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-cooney)
- **Colson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colony-vs-colson)
- **colo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colo-vs-colony)
- **Colin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colin-vs-colony)
- **clone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clone-vs-colony)
- **colon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colon-vs-colony)
- **Colby** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colby-vs-colony)
- **coldly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coldly-vs-colony)
- **colonel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colonel-vs-colony)
- **Cologne** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cologne-vs-colony)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ccolony`, `cloony`, `collony`, `colnoy`, `colonny`, `colonyy`, `coloyn`, `coolny`, `oclony`

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