colibri
\kɔ.li.bʁi\
The verdict
“colibri” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #40,677 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #40,677
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nom normalisé qu’on donne à environ 70 genres d’oiseaux de la famille des trochilidés et de la sous-famille des trochilinés, comportant plus de 145 espèces à plumage iridescent, et qu’on retrouve d...
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 | colibri |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ.li.bʁi\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #40,677 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “colibri” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for colibri is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ.li.bʁi\. Corpus data places it at rank #40,677 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for colibri, with forms such as "ccolibri", "cloibri", and "coilbri". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "calibre", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is colibri, spelled C-O-L-I-B-R-I.
Definition
- 1Nom normalisé qu’on donne à environ 70 genres d’oiseaux de la famille des trochilidés et de la sous-famille des trochilinés, comportant plus de 145 espèces à plumage iridescent, et qu’on retrouve dans l’écozone néarctique, mais dont la plupart des espèces habitent les régions subtropicales et tropicales de l’écozone néotropicale. (genres principaux: Archilochus, Colibri, Lampornis, Oreotrochilus, Trochilus, etc.).
- 2Nom générique désignant familièrement tous les oiseaux de la famille des trochilidés, i.e. les oiseaux-mouches, sans distinction des genres visés.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccolibri,cloibri,coilbri,colbiri,colibbri,colibir,colibrri,colirbi,collibri,oclibri
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of colibri - 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.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "colibri"?
What does "colibri" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "colibri"?
How do you pronounce "colibri"?
What language does "colibri" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “colibri”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-L-I-B-R-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ.li.bʁi\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “calibre” - see the side-by-side comparison. colibri vs calibre
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.