colonel

/kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/

//kɔ.lɔ.nɛl// noun

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

The verdict

“colonel” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #74,356 among 77,812 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#74,356
frequency rank, Spanish
77,812
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Coronel.

Key facts for colonel
PropertyValue
Headwordcolonel
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/
Letters7
Frequency rank#74,356
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “colonel” sits in Spanish frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

colonel is uncommon Spanish at frequency #74,356 among 77,812 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Coronel.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for colonel, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is colonel, spelled C-O-L-O-N-E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Coronel.

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "colonel"?
"colonel" is spelled C-O-L-O-N-E-L. The IPA pronunciation is /kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/.
What does "colonel" mean?
As a noun, "colonel" means: Coronel.
How do you pronounce "colonel"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "colonel" is /kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "colonel" come from?
"colonel" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “colonel”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Spanish spelling is C-O-L-O-N-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words

Other uncommon Spanish words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list