booby

/ˈbuːbi/

//ˈbuːbi// noun

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

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

The verdict

“booby” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #29,563. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#29,563
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A stupid person.

Corpus desk

Index EN-booby · booby · English

booby · rank #29,563 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #29,563
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH BMX

Nearest frequency peer: BMX (-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 “booby”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “booby” 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).

booby vs boy
60% similar
booby vs book
60% similar
booby vs boom
60% similar

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

Key facts for booby
PropertyValue
Headwordbooby
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈbuːbi/
Letters5
Frequency rank#29,563
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “booby”

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).boobylands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “BMX” (#29,562), “bloodline” (#29,561), “breaching” (#29,565). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “booby” is #29,563. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around booby (IPA /ˈbuːbi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #29,563 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for booby, with forms such as "bbooby", "boboy", and "boobby". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "boy", "book", "boom", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: 17th century. From Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus (“stammering”). (bird): Compare typologically Translingual Morus, German Tölpel, Polish głuptak (akin to głupek), Russian о́луша (óluša) (akin to о́лух (ólux)). The correct English form is booby, spelled B-O-O-B-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A stupid person.
  2. 2
    Any of various large tropical seabirds from the genera Sula and Papasula in the family Sulidae, traditionally considered to be stupid.
  3. 3
    In the game of croquet, a ball that has not passed through the first wicket.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. A Frenchman, in his own Country, would dress a fine Dinner of twenty Dishes, and all genteel and pretty, for the Expence he will put an English Lord to for dressing one Dish. But then there is the little petty Profit. [...] So much is the blind Folly of this Age, that they would rather be impos'd on by a French Booby, than give Encouragement to a good Eng…
  2. The daughter is said to be well-bred and beautiful; the son an awkward booby, reared up and spoiled at his mother's apron-string.

Etymology

17th century. From Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus (“stammering”). (bird): Compare typologically Translingual Morus, German Tölpel, Polish głuptak (akin to głupek), Russian о́луша (óluša) (akin to о́лух (ólux)).

This word in other languages

tonto(Español)fou(Français)Tölpel(Deutsch)tolo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbooby
  • boboy
  • boobby
  • boobyy
  • booyb
  • oboby

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of booby - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

bbooby1boboy2boobby1boobyy1booyb2oboby2
Edit distance from "booby"

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 "booby"?
"booby" is spelled B-O-O-B-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈbuːbi/.
What does "booby" mean?
As a noun, "booby" means: A stupid person.
What words are commonly confused with "booby"?
"booby" is commonly confused with "boy", "book", "boom". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "booby"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "booby" is /ˈbuːbi/. 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 "booby"?
17th century. From Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus (“stammering”). (bird): Compare typologically Translingual Morus, German Tölpel, Polish głuptak (akin to głupek), Russian о́луша (óluša) (akin to о́лух (ólux)). 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 "booby", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Bezos#29,559Brice#29,567bushy#29,576axles#29,548

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Brom6 variantsatari6 variantsclem6 variantscollie6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list