cowboy

\ko.bɔj\

/\ko.bɔj\/ noun

The verdict

“cowboy” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,700. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,700
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Variante orthographique de cow-boy ^([1]).

Corpus desk

Index FR-cowboy · cowboy · French

cowboy · rank #18,700 · 9 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,700
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH coopératif

Nearest frequency peer: coopératif (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « cowboy »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « cowboy » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

cowboy vs cowboys
86% similar
cowboy vs combo
67% similar

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

Key facts for cowboy
PropertyValue
Headwordcowboy
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ko.bɔj\
Letters6
Frequency rank#18,700
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « cowboy »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.cowboyse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « coopératif » (#18,699), « Crawford » (#18,701), « contribuant » (#18,698). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « cowboy » est au #18,700. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around cowboy (IPA \ko.bɔj\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,700 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Variante orthographique de cow-boy ^([1]).".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cowboy, with forms such as "ccowboy", "cobwoy", and "cowbboy". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "cowboys", "combo", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is cowboy, spelled C-O-W-B-O-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Variante orthographique de cow-boy ^([1]).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cowboy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Musclé mais maigre, blond, mais le cuir de la figure, des bras et des mains si tanné par le froid, le vent, la neige, la chaleur, le soleil et la sécheresse, qu’il prenait des reflets de vieux chaudron, vêtu que j’étais, comme tous les cowboys, d’un large chapeau gris, d’une chemise de satinette noire, — n’oubliez pas, au cou, le foulard rouge ! — et de c…
  2. Avec le temps, les bolos ont été agrémentés d'éléments divers, dont des pierres plus ou moins précieuses. Portés d'abord par les seuls cowboys, ils ont été très vite adoptés par les femmes.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccowboy
  • cobwoy
  • cowbboy
  • cowboyy
  • cowbyo
  • cowoby
  • cowwboy
  • cwoboy
  • ocwboy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ccowboy1cobwoy2cowbboy1cowboyy1cowbyo2cowoby2cowwboy1cwoboy2
Edit distance from "cowboy"

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 "cowboy"?
"cowboy" is spelled C-O-W-B-O-Y. The IPA pronunciation is \ko.bɔj\.
What does "cowboy" mean?
As a noun, "cowboy" means: Variante orthographique de cow-boy ^([1]).
What words are commonly confused with "cowboy"?
"cowboy" is commonly confused with "cowboys", "combo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cowboy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cowboy" is \ko.bɔj\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cowboy" come from?
"cowboy" is a French 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cowboy", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list