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PlainSpell

bland

/blænd/adjective, verb, noun

bland is spelled B-L-A-N-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bland means “Having a soothing effect; not irritating or stimulating” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in bland?

Letters5: B-L-A-N-D
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bland?

Bland appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce bland?

  • US /blænd/
  • [bleənd] ~ [blɛənd]
  • British /bland/

Bland has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-ca-bland.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bland?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bland from its last stressed vowel (/ænd/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bland

  • blander comparative
  • blandest superlative
  • blands present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • blanding participle, present
  • blanded participle, past
  • blaind
  • blaund

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bland mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Having a soothing effect; not irritating or stimulating.

    a bland oil

  2. 2

    Lacking in taste or flavor.

    The coffee was bland.

  3. 3

    Lacking in vigor.

  4. 4

    Lacking interest; boring; dull.

    bland comment

  5. 5

    archaicMild; soft, gentle, balmy; smooth in manner; suave.

verb

  1. 1

    UKTo mix; blend; mingle.

  2. 2

    UKTo connect; associate.

noun

  1. 1

    UKMixture; union.

  2. 2

    A summer beverage prepared from the whey of churned milk, common among the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bland in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdoux, douce (having a soothing effect; not irritating or…), fade (lacking in taste or flavor)
Germanmild, sanft, reizlos (med.) (having a soothing effect; not irritating or…), fad, geschmacklos, langweilig (lacking in taste or flavor)
Portuguesesuave (having a soothing effect; not irritating or…), insosso (lacking in taste or flavor)
Spanishsuave (having a soothing effect; not irritating or…), soso, insulso, ñoño, desabrido, desaborido (lacking in taste or flavor)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bland come from?

Borrowed from Latin blandus (“pleasant”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bland