# column

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkɒləm/ · frequency rank #4,066

## Definitions
1. A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.
2. A vertical line of entries in a table, usually read from top to bottom.
3. A body of troops or army vehicles, usually strung out along a road.
4. A body of text meant to be read line by line, especially in printed material that has multiple adjacent such on a single page.
5. A unit of width, especially of advertisements, in a periodical, equivalent to the width of a usual column of text.
6. A recurring feature in a periodical, especially an opinion piece, especially by a single author or small rotating group of authors, or on a single theme.
7. Something having similar vertical form or structure to the things mentioned above, such as a spinal column.
8. The gynostemium
9. An instrument used to separate the different components of a liquid or to purify chemical compounds.

## Etymology
From Middle English columne, columpne, columpe, borrowed from Old French columne, from Latin columna (“a column, pillar, post”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”). Akin to Latin collis (“a hill”), celsus (“high”), probably to Ancient Greek κολοφών (kolophṓn, “top, summit”).

## Easily confused with
- **columns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/column-vs-columns)
- **Colin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colin-vs-column)
- **colon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colon-vs-column)
- **clump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clump-vs-column)
- **Calum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calum-vs-column)
- **Colton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colton-vs-column)
- **Collin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/collin-vs-column)
- **Coburn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coburn-vs-column)
- **Colman** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colman-vs-column)
- **Colson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colson-vs-column)
- **Coleman** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coleman-vs-column)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ccolumn`, `cloumn`, `collumn`, `colmun`, `colummn`, `columnn`, `colunm`, `coulmn`, `oclumn`

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