tumour

noun

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

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

The verdict

“tumour” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #17,510. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,510
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Commonwealth standard spelling of tumor.

Corpus desk

Index EN-tumour · tumour · English

tumour · rank #17,510 · 8 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,510
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH troublesome

Nearest frequency peer: troublesome (-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 “tumour”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “tumour” 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).

tumour vs tutor
67% similar
tumour vs tour
67% similar
tumour vs tumor
83% similar

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

Key facts for tumour
PropertyValue
Headwordtumour
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#17,510
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “tumour”

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).tumourlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “troublesome” (#17,509), “twain” (#17,511), “tossing” (#17,508). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “tumour” is #17,510. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around tumour, anoun. Corpus frequency is #17,510 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Commonwealth standard spelling of tumor.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for tumour, with forms such as "tmuour", "ttumour", and "tummour". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "tutor", "tour", "tumor", 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 tumour, from Old French tumour, from Latin tumor (“swelling”), from tumeō (“bulge, swell”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”). Related to English thumb. The correct English form is tumour, spelled T-U-M-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Commonwealth standard spelling of tumor.

Etymology

From Middle English tumour, from Old French tumour, from Latin tumor (“swelling”), from tumeō (“bulge, swell”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”). Related to English thumb.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • tmuour
  • ttumour
  • tummour
  • tumoru
  • tumourr
  • tumuor
  • tuomur
  • utmour

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

tmuour2ttumour1tummour1tumoru2tumourr1tumuor2tuomur2utmour2
Edit distance from "tumour"

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 "tumour"?
"tumour" is spelled T-U-M-O-U-R.
What does "tumour" mean?
As a noun, "tumour" means: Commonwealth standard spelling of tumor.
What words are commonly confused with "tumour"?
"tumour" is commonly confused with "tutor", "tour", "tumor". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "tumour"?
From Middle English tumour, from Old French tumour, from Latin tumor (“swelling”), from tumeō (“bulge, swell”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”). Related to English thumb. 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 "tumour", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

utopia#17,514vanish#17,515spruce#17,498abrupt#17,529

Similar misspelling depth

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

Stacy8 variantsslows8 variantsbinds8 variantsbiomass8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list