diff --git a/include/mapnik/label_collision_detector.hpp b/include/mapnik/label_collision_detector.hpp
index fa23b7ca0..b913ac0dc 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/label_collision_detector.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/label_collision_detector.hpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ struct label_collision_detector
 {
     typedef std::vector<box2d<double> > label_placements;
 
-    bool has_plasement(box2d<double> const& box)
+    bool has_placement(box2d<double> const& box)
     {
         label_placements::const_iterator itr=labels_.begin();
         for( ; itr !=labels_.end();++itr)
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ public:
 };
 
 
-//quad tree based label collission detector so labels dont appear within a given distance
+//quad tree based label collision detector so labels dont appear within a given distance
 class label_collision_detector4 : boost::noncopyable
 {
 public: