comet
/ˈkɒmɪt/
"comet" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“comet” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,208 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,208
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small Solar System body consisting mainly of volatile ice, dust and particles of rock whose very eccentric solar orbit periodically brings it close enough to the Sun that the ice vaporises to for...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | comet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒmɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,208 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “comet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for comet is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɒmɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,208 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for comet, with forms such as "ccomet", "cmoet", and "coemt". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cot", "cost", "core", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the ta… The correct English form is comet, spelled C-O-M-E-T.
Definition
- 1A small Solar System body consisting mainly of volatile ice, dust and particles of rock whose very eccentric solar orbit periodically brings it close enough to the Sun that the ice vaporises to form an atmosphere, or coma, which may be blown by the solar wind to produce a visible tail.
- 2A celestial phenomenon with the appearance of such a body.
- 3Any of several species of hummingbird found in the Andes.
Etymology
From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the tail of a comet, from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). Compare English faxed star and Latin crīnīta stēlla (“comet”, literally “(long) haired star”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccomet,cmoet,coemt,comett,commet,ocmet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of comet - 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.
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 "comet"?
What does "comet" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "comet"?
How do you pronounce "comet"?
What is the origin of the word "comet"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “comet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɒmɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cot” - see the side-by-side comparison. comet vs cot
- 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.