colourful

adj

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

"colourful" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“colourful” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,886. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,886
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - British standard spelling of colorful.

Corpus desk

Index EN-colourful · colourful · English

colourful · rank #13,886 · 13 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #13,886
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH cloudy

Nearest frequency peer: cloudy (-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 “colourful”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “colourful” 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).

colourful vs colorful
89% similar

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

Key facts for colourful
PropertyValue
Headwordcolourful
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters9
Frequency rank#13,886
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “colourful”

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).colourfullands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “cloudy” (#13,885), “compassionate” (#13,887), “comrade” (#13,888). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “colourful” is #13,886. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around colourful, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #13,886 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "British standard spelling of colorful.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for colourful, with forms such as "ccolourful", "cloourful", and "collourful". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "colorful", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From colour + -ful. The correct English form is colourful, spelled C-O-L-O-U-R-F-U-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    British standard spelling of colorful.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. It was a colourful vase with red and white hoops on the lid, and red bands above and below the main frieze. These bands also carry a metope pattern in white of triple lines and blobs, which can just be distinguished on the photographs.
  2. One of the most colourful people in motor racing, he writes in a colourful manner.

Etymology

From colour + -ful.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccolourful
  • cloourful
  • collourful
  • coloruful
  • coloufrul
  • colourfful
  • colourflu
  • colourfull
  • colourrful
  • colourufl
  • coluorful
  • coolurful
  • oclourful

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of colourful - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ccolourful1cloourful2collourful1coloruful2coloufrul2colourfful1colourflu2colourfull1
Edit distance from "colourful"

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 "colourful"?
"colourful" is spelled C-O-L-O-U-R-F-U-L.
What does "colourful" mean?
As an adjective, "colourful" means: British standard spelling of colorful.
What words are commonly confused with "colourful"?
"colourful" is commonly confused with "colorful". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "colourful"?
From colour + -ful. 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 "colourful", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

brightest#13,873attendees#13,857arrogance#13,856arranging#13,855

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

blasting13 variantsdrifting13 variantsfragment13 variantsgangster13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list