blunderbuss
/ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/
"blunderbuss" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“blunderbuss” is an uncommon English word, ranked #84,036 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #84,036
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle, therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, st...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | blunderbuss |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #84,036 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “blunderbuss” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for blunderbuss is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/. Corpus data places it at rank #84,036 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle, therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, st...".
No generated misspelling entries exist for blunderbuss in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Dutch donderbus (“blunderbuss”, literally “thunder gun”), which was altered under the influence of blunder. The correct English form is blunderbuss, spelled B-L-U-N-D-E-R-B-U-S-S.
Definition
- 1An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle, therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, stones, shot, etc. at short range.
Etymology
From Dutch donderbus (“blunderbuss”, literally “thunder gun”), which was altered under the influence of blunder.
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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Using “blunderbuss”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-L-U-N-D-E-R-B-U-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.