boll
/bɒl/
"boll" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“boll” is uncommon English (frequency #51,575 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,575
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The rounded seed-bearing capsule of a cotton or flax plant.
Corpus desk
Index EN-boll · boll · English
boll · rank #51,575 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,575
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bolden
Nearest frequency peer: bolden (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “boll”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- bobbin
bobbin
48,429 corpus weight
- BOGO
BOGO
48,428 corpus weight
- bolden
bolden
48,427 corpus weight
- boll
boll
48,426 corpus weight
- boogeyman
boogeyman
48,424 corpus weight
- boozy
boozy
48,423 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “boll” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | boll |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɒl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #51,575 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “boll” in English
Rare enough to double-check
boll is uncommon English at frequency #51,575 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /bɒl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
boll has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bolle (“pod; shell”) and Middle Dutch bolle (“round object”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bullô (“round object; bowl”). More at bowl. The correct English form is boll, spelled B-O-L-L.
Definition
- 1The rounded seed-bearing capsule of a cotton or flax plant.
- 2A protuberance or excrescence growing on the trunks of some trees, a burl.
- 3An old dry measure equal to six bushels.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how boll appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Sometimes the slave picks down one side of a row, and back upon the other, but more usually, there is one on either side, gathering all that has blossomed, leaving the unopened bolls for a succeeding picking.
The champion picker of the day before was the hero of the dawn. If he prophesied that the cotton in today’s field was going to be sparse and stick to the bolls like glue, every listener would grunt a hearty agreement.
Etymology
From Middle English bolle (“pod; shell”) and Middle Dutch bolle (“round object”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bullô (“round object; bowl”). More at bowl.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "boll", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).