costume

/ˈkɒs.tjuːm/

//ˈkɒs.tjuːm// noun

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

"costume" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“costume” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,315. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,315
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A style of dress, including garments, accessories and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period or people.

Corpus desk

Index EN-costume · costume · English

costume · rank #5,315 · 10 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,315
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH contents

Nearest frequency peer: contents (-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 “costume”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “costume” 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).

costume vs couture
71% similar
costume vs costumed
88% similar
costume vs consume
71% similar

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

Key facts for costume
PropertyValue
Headwordcostume
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkɒs.tjuːm/
Letters7
Frequency rank#5,315
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “costume”

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).costumelands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “contents” (#5,314), “Craig” (#5,316), “consecutive” (#5,313). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “costume” is #5,315. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around costume (IPA /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,315 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for costume, with forms such as "ccostume", "cosstume", and "costmue". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "couture", "costumed", "consume", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French costume, from Italian costume, from Latin consuētūdō (“custom, habit”). Doublet of consuetude, custom, and kastom. Verb circa 1802, perhaps modelled on French costumer. The correct English form is costume, spelled C-O-S-T-U-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A style of dress, including garments, accessories and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period or people.
  2. 2
    An outfit or a disguise worn as fancy dress etc.
  3. 3
    A set of clothes appropriate for a particular occasion or season.
  4. 4
    A swimming costume.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The apology came after a netizen claimed Soberano was supposedly doing a black face, but the latter said, in defense, it was just a “costume.”
  2. We wore gorilla costumes to the party.

Etymology

Borrowed from French costume, from Italian costume, from Latin consuētūdō (“custom, habit”). Doublet of consuetude, custom, and kastom. Verb circa 1802, perhaps modelled on French costumer.

Synonyms

getupoutfit

This word in other languages

traje(Español)costume(Français)Kostüm(Deutsch)traje(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccostume
  • cosstume
  • costmue
  • costtume
  • costuem
  • costumme
  • cosutme
  • cotsume
  • csotume
  • ocstume

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of costume - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccostume1cosstume1costmue2costtume1costuem2costumme1cosutme2cotsume2
Edit distance from "costume"

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 "costume"?
"costume" is spelled C-O-S-T-U-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/.
What does "costume" mean?
As a noun, "costume" means: A style of dress, including garments, accessories and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period or people.
What words are commonly confused with "costume"?
"costume" is commonly confused with "couture", "costumed", "consume". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "costume"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "costume" is /ˈkɒs.tjuːm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "costume"?
Borrowed from French costume, from Italian costume, from Latin consuētūdō (“custom, habit”). Doublet of consuetude, custom, and kastom. Verb circa 1802, perhaps modelled on French costumer. 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 "costume", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

deleted#5,317devoted#5,318endless#5,323escaped#5,324

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

collapse10 variantsgarbage10 variantsceiling10 variantsheating10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list