harbour

noun

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

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

The verdict

“harbour” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,347. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,347
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Standard spelling of harbor.

Corpus desk

Index EN-harbour · harbour · English

harbour · rank #7,347 · 10 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,347
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH habitat

Nearest frequency peer: habitat (-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 “harbour”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “harbour” 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).

harbour vs harbor
86% similar

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

Key facts for harbour
PropertyValue
Headwordharbour
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,347
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “harbour”

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).harbourlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “habitat” (#7,346), “hazard” (#7,348), “hydrogen” (#7,349). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “harbour” is #7,347. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around harbour, anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,347 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Standard spelling of harbor.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for harbour, with forms such as "ahrbour", "habrour", and "harbbour". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "harbor", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is harbour, spelled H-A-R-B-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Standard spelling of harbor.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. In West Wales it has never been possible until recently to exploit the magnificent natural harbour of Milford Haven, for there was no industrial hinterland.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ahrbour
  • habrour
  • harbbour
  • harboru
  • harbourr
  • harbuor
  • harobur
  • harrbour
  • hharbour
  • hrabour

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ahrbour2habrour2harbbour1harboru2harbourr1harbuor2harobur2harrbour1
Edit distance from "harbour"

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 "harbour"?
"harbour" is spelled H-A-R-B-O-U-R.
What does "harbour" mean?
As a noun, "harbour" means: Standard spelling of harbor.
What words are commonly confused with "harbour"?
"harbour" is commonly confused with "harbor". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "harbour" come from?
"harbour" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "harbour", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

habitat#7,346implies#7,350furious#7,341crowded#7,329

Similar misspelling depth

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

colleague10 variantsrecalled10 variantsreduces10 variantsarchive10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list