barbed
/bɑː(ɹ)bd/
"barbed" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“barbed” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #20,294 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #20,294
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having barbs.
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 | barbed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /bɑː(ɹ)bd/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #20,294 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “barbed” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for barbed is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɑː(ɹ)bd/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,294 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for barbed, with forms such as "abrbed", "babred", and "barbbed". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bare", "bred", "bard", and more, 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, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is barbed, spelled B-A-R-B-E-D.
Definition
- 1Having barbs.
- 2Having barbs of a certain colour (as or similar to an arrow); beared.
- 3Having gills or wattles (as a bird); wattled.
- 4Having sepals or leaves between the petals (on a rose, etc).
- 5Deliberately hurtful; biting; caustic.
- 6Accoutered with defensive armor; barded.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abrbed,babred,barbbed,barbde,barbedd,barebd,barrbed,bbarbed,brabed
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of barbed - 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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "barbed"?
What does "barbed" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "barbed"?
How do you pronounce "barbed"?
What language does "barbed" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “barbed”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-R-B-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɑː(ɹ)bd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bare” - see the side-by-side comparison. barbed vs bare
- 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.