board
/bɔɹd/noun, verb
board is spelled B-O-A-R-D. The wrong spelling people search most is borad: about 200 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 74 of all searches for the word. Board is a noun meaning “A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in…”. The plural of board is boards.
How many letters and syllables are in board?
| Letters | 5: B-O-A-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 174 times per million words; the 576th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, borad, about 200 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell board?
Board is spelled B-O-A-R-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 74 of the searches for board in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is board?
Board appears 174 times per million words in written English, the 576th 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 board?
- UK /bɔːd/
- British /boːd/
- US /bɔɹd/
Board has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-board.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with board
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: baud, bawd, bored (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: bord.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with board?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as board from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹd/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: broad, bardo, abord, dobra.
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 board
- boards plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- boarding participle, present
- boarded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does board mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
- 2
A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
- 3
A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
Each player starts the game with four counters on the board.
- 4
Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, message board (on the Internet), bulletin board, etc.
- 5
A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors.
We have to wait to hear back from the board.
- 6
Regular meals in a place of lodging; the price paid for them.
board and lodging
- 7
The side of a ship.
- 8
The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
- 9
informalA rebound.
verb
- 1
To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.
It is time to board the aircraft.
- 2
To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money.
to board one’s horse at a livery stable
- 3
To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money.
We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house,
- 4
To (at least attempt to) capture an enemy ship by going alongside and grappling her, then invading her with a boarding party.
- 5
To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation
- 6
archaicTo approach (someone); to make advances to, accost.
- 7
To cover with boards or boarding.
to board a house
- 8
To hit (someone) with a wooden board.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate board?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of board: Bd, Bd., bd..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Board in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | planche , compteur , plateau , tableau , monter (à bord de), embarquer |
| German | Brett , Pult , Tafel , Gremium, Vorstand, Rat |
| Portuguese | tábua , painel de controle , quadro, lousa , conselho, comitê |
| Spanish | tablero, tabla , pizarra, pizarrón , abordar , consejo |
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 board come from?
Board (duplicate bridge) From Middle English boord, boorde, bord, bourd, burd, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; edge; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, top”) + *-dʰeti or *bʰerH- (“to pierce; to strike”) + *-dʰeti. The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).