Cosby

name

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

"cosby" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Cosby” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,761. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#21,761
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A village and civil parish in Blaby district, Leicestershire, England (OS grid ref SP5495).

Corpus desk

Index EN-cosby · Cosby · English

Cosby · rank #21,761 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #21,761
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH coronavirus

Nearest frequency peer: coronavirus (-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 “Cosby”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “Cosby” 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).

Cosby vs coy
40% similar
Cosby vs cost
40% similar
Cosby vs cozy
40% similar

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

Key facts for Cosby
PropertyValue
HeadwordCosby
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters5
Frequency rank#21,761
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Cosby”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Cosbylands 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 “coronavirus” (#21,760), “craftsman” (#21,762), “convection” (#21,759). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “Cosby” is #21,761. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around Cosby, aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #21,761 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for Cosby, with forms such as "ccosby", "cobsy", and "cosbby". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "coy", "cost", "cozy", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From the Old English personal name *Cossa + Old Norse býr (“farm; settlement”). The correct English form is Cosby, spelled C-O-S-B-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A village and civil parish in Blaby district, Leicestershire, England (OS grid ref SP5495).
  2. 2
    A village in Andrew County, Missouri, United States.
  3. 3
    A census-designated place in Cocke County, Tennessee, United States.
  4. 4
    A habitational surname.

Etymology

From the Old English personal name *Cossa + Old Norse býr (“farm; settlement”).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccosby
  • cobsy
  • cosbby
  • cosbyy
  • cossby
  • cosyb
  • csoby
  • ocsby

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Cosby - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ccosby1cobsy2cosbby1cosbyy1cossby1cosyb2csoby2ocsby2
Edit distance from "Cosby"

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 "Cosby"?
"Cosby" is spelled C-O-S-B-Y.
What does "Cosby" mean?
As a proper noun, "Cosby" means: A village and civil parish in Blaby district, Leicestershire, England (OS grid ref SP5495).
What words are commonly confused with "Cosby"?
"Cosby" is commonly confused with "coy", "cost", "cozy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "Cosby"?
From the Old English personal name *Cossa + Old Norse býr (“farm; settlement”). 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 "Cosby", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dares#21,771bathe#21,729feces#21,795giddy#21,809

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

chases8 variantsbrodie8 variantsFarage8 variantswight8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list