culture

/ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/

//ˈkʌlt͡ʃə// noun

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

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

The verdict

“culture” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #987 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#987
frequency rank, English
7
letters
10
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

culture vs cultured
88% similar
culture vs capture
71% similar
culture vs couture
71% similar

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

Key facts for culture
PropertyValue
Headwordculture
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/
Letters7
Frequency rank#987
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “culture” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). culture lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for culture is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/. Corpus data places it at rank #987 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for culture, with forms such as "cculture", "cluture", and "cullture". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "cultured", "capture", "couture", 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 French culture (“cultivation; culture”), from Latin cultūra (“cultivation; culture”), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate, to grow, worship”) (related to colōnus and colōnia), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to mo… The correct English form is culture, spelled C-U-L-T-U-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.
  2. 2
    The beliefs, values, behaviour, and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
  3. 3
    The conventional conducts and ideologies of a community; the system comprising the accepted norms and values of a society.
  4. 4
    Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings.
  5. 5
    Cultivation.
  6. 6
    The process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium.
  7. 7
    The growth thus produced.
  8. 8
    A group of bacteria.
  9. 9
    The details on a map that do not represent natural features of the area delineated, such as names and the symbols for towns, roads, meridians, and parallels.
  10. 10
    Ellipsis of archaeological culture (“recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society”).
  11. 11
    Ethnicity, race (and its associated arts, customs, etc.)

Etymology

From Middle French culture (“cultivation; culture”), from Latin cultūra (“cultivation; culture”), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate, to grow, worship”) (related to colōnus and colōnia), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”).

This word in other languages

cultura(Español)culture(Français)Kultur(Deutsch)cultura(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: cculture,cluture,cullture,cultrue,cultture,cultuer,culturre,culutre,cutlure,uclture

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of culture - 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.

cculture1cluture2cullture1cultrue2cultture1cultuer2culturre1culutre2
Edit distance from "culture"

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 "culture"?
"culture" is spelled C-U-L-T-U-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/.
What does "culture" mean?
As a noun, "culture" means: The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.
What words are commonly confused with "culture"?
"culture" is commonly confused with "cultured", "capture", "couture". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "culture"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "culture" is /ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/. 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 "culture"?
From Middle French culture (“cultivation; culture”), from Latin cultūra (“cultivation; culture”), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate, to grow, worship”) (related to colōnus and colōnia), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷe... 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.

Using “culture”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-U-L-T-U-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “cultured” - see the side-by-side comparison. culture vs cultured
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list