blush

/blʌʃ/

//blʌʃ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"blush" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“blush” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,671. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,671
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.

Corpus desk

Index EN-blush · blush · English

blush · rank #13,671 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,671
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH Bloomberg

Nearest frequency peer: Bloomberg (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “blush”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “blush” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

blush vs bus
60% similar
blush vs busy
60% similar
blush vs bush
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for blush
PropertyValue
Headwordblush
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/blʌʃ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#13,671
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “blush”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).blushlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Bloomberg” (#13,670), “booster” (#13,672), “belongings” (#13,669). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “blush” is #13,671. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around blush (IPA /blʌʃ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,671 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for blush, with forms such as "bblush", "bllush", and "blsuh". 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, "bus", "busy", "bush", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English blusshen, bluschen, blusschen, blisshen, from Old English blysċan (“to be red; shine”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *blaskijaną, from *blasǭ (“burning candle; torch”) or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną, from *blusjǭ (“torch… The correct English form is blush, spelled B-L-U-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.
  2. 2
    A glow; a flush of colour, especially pink or red.
  3. 3
    A feeling or appearance of optimism.
  4. 4
    A cosmetic, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks and lips.
  5. 5
    A color between pink and cream.
  6. 6
    Ellipsis of blush wine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how blush appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege, Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years, And not bewray thy treason with a blush?
  2. […] when he perceived her industriously avoiding any explanation, he was contented to remain in ignorance, the rather as he was not without suspicion that there were some circumstances which must have raised her blushes, had she related the whole truth.

Etymology

From Middle English blusshen, bluschen, blusschen, blisshen, from Old English blysċan (“to be red; shine”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *blaskijaną, from *blasǭ (“burning candle; torch”) or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną, from *blusjǭ (“torch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-. Cognate with Middle Low German blöschen (“to blush”). Compare also Old English blysian (“to burn; blaze”), Dutch blozen (“to blush”), Danish blusse (“to blush”), Old Norse blys (“torch”), Danish blus (“blaze”).

This word in other languages

bochorno(Español)rougeur(Français)Schamröte(Deutsch)corar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bblush
  • bllush
  • blsuh
  • bluhs
  • blushh
  • blussh
  • bulsh
  • lbush

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of blush - 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.

bblush1bllush1blsuh2bluhs2blushh1blussh1bulsh2lbush2
Edit distance from "blush"

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 "blush"?
"blush" is spelled B-L-U-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is /blʌʃ/.
What does "blush" mean?
As a noun, "blush" means: An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "blush"?
"blush" is commonly confused with "bus", "busy", "bush". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "blush"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "blush" is /blʌʃ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "blush"?
From Middle English blusshen, bluschen, blusschen, blisshen, from Old English blysċan (“to be red; shine”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *blaskijaną, from *blasǭ (“burning candle; torch”) or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną, from *blus... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "blush", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

claws#13,683windy#13,643docks#13,704vines#13,637

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

barbie8 variantscommute8 variantsunnamed8 variantsinduce8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list