combe
/kuːm/
"combe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“combe” is an uncommon English word, ranked #55,337 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #55,337
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A valley, often wooded and often with no river
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | combe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kuːm/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #55,337 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “combe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for combe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kuːm/. Corpus data places it at rank #55,337 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for combe in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English coumbe, cumbe, from Old English cumb, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kumbaz; compare Dutch kom (“bowl, basin”), German Kump (“vessel”). Related to Welsh cwm (“a hollow valley”), Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow”), Sanskrit कुम्भ (kum… The correct English form is combe, spelled C-O-M-B-E.
Definition
- 1A valley, often wooded and often with no river
- 2A cirque.
Etymology
From Middle English coumbe, cumbe, from Old English cumb, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kumbaz; compare Dutch kom (“bowl, basin”), German Kump (“vessel”). Related to Welsh cwm (“a hollow valley”), Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow”), Sanskrit कुम्भ (kumbha, “a pot, jug”), etc. through Proto-Indo-European *ḱumbʰ-.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “combe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kuːm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.