bassoon
/bəˈsuːn/
"bassoon" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bassoon” is uncommon English (frequency #50,959 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,959
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A musical instrument in the woodwind family, having a double reed and playing in the tenor and bass ranges.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bassoon · bassoon · English
bassoon · rank #50,959 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #50,959
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH batchelor
Nearest frequency peer: batchelor (+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 “bassoon”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- ballpoint
ballpoint
49,045 corpus weight
- bassoon
bassoon
49,042 corpus weight
- batchelor
batchelor
49,041 corpus weight
- Bayliss
Bayliss
49,040 corpus weight
- beachy
beachy
49,039 corpus weight
- beefed
beefed
49,038 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “bassoon” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bassoon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bəˈsuːn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #50,959 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bassoon” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bassoon is uncommon English at frequency #50,959 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /bəˈsuːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A musical instrument in the woodwind family, having a double reed and playing in the tenor and bass ranges.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for bassoon, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French basson. The correct English form is bassoon, spelled B-A-S-S-O-O-N.
Definition
- 1A musical instrument in the woodwind family, having a double reed and playing in the tenor and bass ranges.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bassoon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Higher and higher every day, / Till over the mast at noon— / The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, / For he heard the loud bassoon.
The most convenient and natural order is, perhaps, the following: the upper staff may have the flute-part, because it has the highest notes, and, therefore, requires most room above the staff; then follow the parts for the hautboys, clarinets, horns, bassoons, tromboni, trumpets, and drums; the upper half of the page thus containing the wind-instruments:…
Etymology
Borrowed from French basson.
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
How do you spell "bassoon"?
What does "bassoon" mean?
How do you pronounce "bassoon"?
What is the origin of the word "bassoon"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bassoon", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).