backbreaking
"backbreaking" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“backbreaking” is uncommon English (frequency #83,024 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,024
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of work, very physically tiring.
Corpus desk
Index EN-backbreaking · backbreaking · English
backbreaking · rank #83,024 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #83,024
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH Bachelet
Nearest frequency peer: Bachelet (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “backbreaking”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Aylward
Aylward
16,981 corpus weight
- Baath
Baath
16,979 corpus weight
- Bachelet
Bachelet
16,978 corpus weight
- backbreaking
backbreaking
16,977 corpus weight
- backscatter
backscatter
16,976 corpus weight
- badman
badman
16,975 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “backbreaking” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | backbreaking |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #83,024 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “backbreaking” in English
Rare enough to double-check
backbreaking is uncommon English at frequency #83,024 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of work, very physically tiring.".
No misspelling variants are generated for backbreaking in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From back + breaking. The correct English form is backbreaking, spelled B-A-C-K-B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Of work, very physically tiring.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how backbreaking appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A few keen enginemen, such as Driver Rosewarne of York, could coax good work out of them when engaged in heavy East Coast express service, but to most footplate crews, especially firemen, they were rather heartbreaking and backbreaking machines, and gradually were relegated to secondary or fast goods duties.
Ahead [...] each woman is stooped beneath a backbreaking load of firewood.
Etymology
From back + breaking.
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "backbreaking", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).