Cologne
\kɔ.ˈlɔɲ\
The verdict
“Cologne” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #11,191 in French word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #11,191
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ville, commune, arrondissement et district d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie.
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 | Cologne |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | \kɔ.ˈlɔɲ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #11,191 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Cologne” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for Cologne is 7 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ.ˈlɔɲ\. Corpus data places it at rank #11,191 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Ville, commune, arrondissement et district d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Cologne, with forms such as "ccologne", "cloogne", and "colgone". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "côlon", "colons", "coloré", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is Cologne, spelled C-O-L-O-G-N-E.
Definition
- 1Ville, commune, arrondissement et district d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccologne,cloogne,colgone,collogne,cologen,cologgne,colognne,colonge,coolgne,oclogne
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Cologne - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Cologne"?
What does "Cologne" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Cologne"?
How do you pronounce "Cologne"?
What language does "Cologne" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Cologne”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-L-O-G-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ.ˈlɔɲ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “côlon” - see the side-by-side comparison. Cologne vs côlon
- 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.