harbor
/ˈhɑːbə/
"harbor" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“harbor” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,599 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,599
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any place of shelter.
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 | harbor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɑːbə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,599 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “harbor” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for harbor is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɑːbə/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,599 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for harbor, with forms such as "ahrbor", "habror", and "harbbor". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "harder", "horror", "harper", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English herberwe, herber, from Old English herebeorg (“shelter, lodgings, quarters”), from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army shelter, refuge”), from *harjaz (“army”) + *bergō (“protection”), equivalent to Old English here (“army, host”) + b… The correct English form is harbor, spelled H-A-R-B-O-R.
Definition
- 1Any place of shelter.
- 2A sheltered expanse of water, adjacent to land, in which ships may anchor or dock, especially for loading and unloading.
- 3A mixing box for materials.
- 4A house of the zodiac, or the mansion of a heavenly body.
- 5Shelter, refuge.
Etymology
From Middle English herberwe, herber, from Old English herebeorg (“shelter, lodgings, quarters”), from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army shelter, refuge”), from *harjaz (“army”) + *bergō (“protection”), equivalent to Old English here (“army, host”) + beorg (“defense, protection, refuge”). Doublet of albergo and auberge. See also borrow, bury, harbinger, harry and here.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahrbor,habror,harbbor,harborr,harbro,harobr,harrbor,hharbor,hrabor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of harbor - 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 "harbor"?
What does "harbor" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "harbor"?
How do you pronounce "harbor"?
What is the origin of the word "harbor"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “harbor”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-R-B-O-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɑːbə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “harder” - see the side-by-side comparison. harbor vs harder
- 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.