Wilbur
"wilbur" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Wilbur” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,423. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #21,423
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname originating as a matronymic.
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 | Wilbur |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #21,423 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Wilbur” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around Wilbur, aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #21,423 among 12,113 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Wilbur, with forms such as "iwlbur", "wiblur", and "wilbbur". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "wilder", "wilful", "Wilmer", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From an Old English female given name Wilburg, from wil (“will”) + burh (“fortress”). The correct English form is Wilbur, spelled W-I-L-B-U-R.
Definition
- 1A surname originating as a matronymic.
- 2A male given name transferred from the surname.
- 3A stereotypical given name for a pig.
Etymology
From an Old English female given name Wilburg, from wil (“will”) + burh (“fortress”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iwlbur,wiblur,wilbbur,wilbru,wilburr,willbur,wilubr,wlibur,wwilbur
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Wilbur - 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.
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
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Using “Wilbur”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-I-L-B-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “wilder” - see the side-by-side comparison. Wilbur vs wilder
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.