humour

/ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/

//ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)// noun

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

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

The verdict

“humour” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,189. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,189
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.

Corpus desk

Index EN-humour · humour · English

humour · rank #9,189 · 8 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,189
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH humidity

Nearest frequency peer: humidity (-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 “humour”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “humour” 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).

humour vs hour
67% similar
humour vs humor
83% similar
humour vs honour
67% similar

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

Key facts for humour
PropertyValue
Headwordhumour
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/
Letters6
Frequency rank#9,189
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “humour”

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “humidity” (#9,188), “imagery” (#9,190), “guarantees” (#9,187). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “humour” is #9,189. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around humour (IPA /ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,189 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for humour, with forms such as "hhumour", "hmuour", and "hummour". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "hour", "humor", "honour", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English humour, from Old French humor, humour, from Latin hūmor, correctly ūmor (“liquid”), from hūmeō, correctly ūmeō (“to be moist”). The h in these words, which was silent in late Classical Latin, is folk etymological, due to the erroneous as… The correct English form is humour, spelled H-U-M-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
  2. 2
    A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind or disposition brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim.
  3. 3
    Any of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body.
  4. 4
    Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour.
  5. 5
    Moist vapour, moisture.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. She has a great sense of humour, and I always laugh a lot whenever we get together.
  2. The sensitive subject was treated with humour, but in such way that no one was offended.

Etymology

From Middle English humour, from Old French humor, humour, from Latin hūmor, correctly ūmor (“liquid”), from hūmeō, correctly ūmeō (“to be moist”). The h in these words, which was silent in late Classical Latin, is folk etymological, due to the erroneous association with the word humus (“soil”). The shift in meaning "liquid" > "mood" is attributed to the classical system of physiology, where human behaviour is regulated by four bodily humours (fluids). The sense "mood" gave rise to the verb sense "to give in to someone's mood or whim" and, by narrowing of meaning, the sense "wit".

Synonyms

comedywitwitticism

This word in other languages

humor(Español)humour(Français)Humor(Deutsch)humor(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhumour
  • hmuour
  • hummour
  • humoru
  • humourr
  • humuor
  • huomur
  • uhmour

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

hhumour1hmuour2hummour1humoru2humourr1humuor2huomur2uhmour2
Edit distance from "humour"

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 "humour"?
"humour" is spelled H-U-M-O-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/.
What does "humour" mean?
As a noun, "humour" means: The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
What words are commonly confused with "humour"?
"humour" is commonly confused with "hour", "humor", "honour". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "humour"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "humour" is /ˈhjuː.mə(ɹ)/. 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 "humour"?
From Middle English humour, from Old French humor, humour, from Latin hūmor, correctly ūmor (“liquid”), from hūmeō, correctly ūmeō (“to be moist”). The h in these words, which was silent in late Classical Latin, is folk etymological, due to the er... 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 "humour", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Gandhi#9,184inland#9,194inning#9,195donors#9,171

Similar misspelling depth

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

imply8 variantsFloyd8 variantsflown8 variantsdessert8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list