NBC

name

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

"nbc" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“NBC” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #6,937) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#6,937
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of National Broadcasting Company: U.S. television and radio network.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nbc · NBC · English

NBC · rank #6,937 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,937
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH namely

Nearest frequency peer: namely (-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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “NBC”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “NBC” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

NBC vs NC
67% similar
NBC vs ne
0% similar
NBC vs NJ
33% similar

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

Key facts for NBC
PropertyValue
HeadwordNBC
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters3
Frequency rank#6,937
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “NBC”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).NBClands 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 “namely” (#6,936), “needing” (#6,938), “mercury” (#6,935). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “NBC” is #6,937. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for NBC is neighbouring look-alikes ("NC", "ne", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun. Frequency #6,937 among 1,534 “N” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

NBC has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NC", "ne", "NJ", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is NBC, spelled N-B-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Initialism of National Broadcasting Company: U.S. television and radio network.
  2. 2
    Initialism of National Biscuit Company: U.S. food company, now Nabisco.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Investigators probing gunman Omar Mateen’s massacre at least 49 people at a popular gay nightclub in Florida are trying to determine whether terrorism, homophobia or both pushed him over the edge. […] There's no indication that Mateen was in touch with terrorists overseas or that the attack was directed by someone else, a law enforcement officials told NB…
  2. Bailey told CNN that he only spoke with [Arthur] Engoron about his September summary judgment decision “because that’s the only thing I discussed with reporters.” NBC said it stood by its story.

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 "NBC"?
"NBC" is spelled N-B-C.
What does "NBC" mean?
As a proper noun, "NBC" means: Initialism of National Broadcasting Company: U.S. television and radio network.
What words are commonly confused with "NBC"?
"NBC" is commonly confused with "NC", "ne", "NJ". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "NBC" come from?
"NBC" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "NBC", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

NHL#6,940gut#6,915ego#6,898Abu#6,980

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list