aboard
/əˈbɔːd/
"aboard" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“aboard” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,653 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #5,653
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car.
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 | aboard |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /əˈbɔːd/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,653 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “aboard” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for aboard is 6 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈbɔːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,653 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for aboard, with forms such as "abaord", "abboard", and "aboadr". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "award", "abort", "abroad", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English abord, from a- (“on”) + bord (“board, side of a ship”); equivalent to a- + board. The correct English form is aboard, spelled A-B-O-A-R-D.
Definition
- 1On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car.
- 2On or onto a horse, a camel, etc.
- 3On base.
- 4Into a team, group, or company.
- 5Alongside.
Etymology
From Middle English abord, from a- (“on”) + bord (“board, side of a ship”); equivalent to a- + board.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abaord,abboard,aboadr,aboardd,aboarrd,aobard,baoard
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of aboard - 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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “aboard”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-B-O-A-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbɔːd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “award” - see the side-by-side comparison. aboard vs award
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English 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.