cougar

/ˈkuːɡə/

//ˈkuːɡə// noun

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

"cougar" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cougar” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #17,580. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,580
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A wild feline, of species Puma concolor, native to the Americas.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cougar · cougar · English

cougar · rank #17,580 · 8 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,580
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH creeps

Nearest frequency peer: creeps (+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 “cougar”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “cougar” 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).

cougar vs cour
67% similar
cougar vs cough
67% similar
cougar vs cigar
67% similar

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

Key facts for cougar
PropertyValue
Headwordcougar
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkuːɡə/
Letters6
Frequency rank#17,580
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cougar”

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).cougarlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “creeps” (#17,581), “cutler” (#17,582), “Constantinople” (#17,577). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cougar” is #17,580. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around cougar (IPA /ˈkuːɡə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #17,580 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for cougar, with forms such as "ccougar", "coguar", and "couagr". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "cour", "cough", "cigar", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), from Old Tupi sûasuarana. The correct English form is cougar, spelled C-O-U-G-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A wild feline, of species Puma concolor, native to the Americas.
  2. 2
    An older woman who actively seeks the casual, often sexual, companionship of younger men, by implication a female “sexual predator”.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. They are found in Brasil, Paraguay, and in the country of the Amazons; and there is reason to believe that the animal, described by some travellers, under the name of the Ocorome, in Peru, is the same as the cougar, as well as that in the country of the Iroquois, which has been considered as a tiger, thought it is neither striped like that animal, nor spo…
  2. The Cougar has entirely disappeared, or is very rarely met with. This animal was about the size of the wolf, of a gray color, strong, active, fierce and untameable.

Etymology

From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), from Old Tupi sûasuarana.

This word in other languages

puma(Español)cougar(Français)Puma(Deutsch)puma(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccougar
  • coguar
  • couagr
  • cougarr
  • couggar
  • cougra
  • cuogar
  • ocugar

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ccougar1coguar2couagr2cougarr1couggar1cougra2cuogar2ocugar2
Edit distance from "cougar"

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 "cougar"?
"cougar" is spelled C-O-U-G-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkuːɡə/.
What does "cougar" mean?
As a noun, "cougar" means: A wild feline, of species Puma concolor, native to the Americas.
What words are commonly confused with "cougar"?
"cougar" is commonly confused with "cour", "cough", "cigar". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cougar"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cougar" is /ˈkuːɡə/. 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 "cougar"?
From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), from Old Tupi sûasuarana. 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 "cougar", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

creeps#17,581cutler#17,582cleric#17,568Donnie#17,599

Similar misspelling depth

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

chops8 variantsblouse8 variantsbiomass8 variantsbinds8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list