blast
/blɑːst/
"blast" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“blast” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,140 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,140
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A violent gust of wind (in windy weather) or apparent wind (around a moving vehicle).
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 | blast |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /blɑːst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #4,140 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “blast” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for blast is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /blɑːst/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,140 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for blast, with forms such as "balst", "bblast", and "blasst". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "BLS", "boat", "bust", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English blast, blest, from Old English blǣst (“blowing, blast”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāstu, from Proto-Germanic *blēstuz (“blowing, blast”). Cognate with West Frisian blast (“blast”), dialectal Dutch blast (“stubborn intent, drumming”), o… The correct English form is blast, spelled B-L-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1A violent gust of wind (in windy weather) or apparent wind (around a moving vehicle).
- 2A forcible stream of gas or liquid from an orifice, for example from a bellows, the tuyeres of a blast furnace, a person's mouth, etc.
- 3A hit of a recreational drug from a pipe.
- 4The continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace.
- 5The exhaust steam from an engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast.
- 6An explosion, especially for the purpose of destroying a mass of rock, etc.
- 7A verbal attack or punishment; a severe criticism or reprimand.
- 8An explosive charge for blasting.
- 9A loud, sudden sound.
- 10Unwanted noise from a microphone.
- 11A sudden pernicious effect, as if by a noxious wind, especially on animals and plants; a blight.
- 12A good time; an enjoyable moment.
- 13A promotional message sent to an entire mailing list.
- 14A flatulent disease of sheep.
- 15A period of full dosage of PEDs as opposed to a period of reduced intake.
Etymology
From Middle English blast, blest, from Old English blǣst (“blowing, blast”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāstu, from Proto-Germanic *blēstuz (“blowing, blast”). Cognate with West Frisian blast (“blast”), dialectal Dutch blast (“stubborn intent, drumming”), obsolete German Blast (“wind, blowing”), German blasen (“to blow”), Dutch blazen (“to blow”), Danish blæst (“wind”), French blaser (“to blunt, dull”). More at blow.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: balst,bblast,blasst,blastt,blats,bllast,blsat,lbast
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of blast - 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
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Using “blast”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-L-A-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /blɑːst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “BLS” - see the side-by-side comparison. blast vs BLS
- 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.