book

/bʊk/

//bʊk// noun

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

"book" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“book” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #353) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#353
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.

Corpus desk

Index EN-book · book · English

book · rank #353 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #353
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH able

Nearest frequency peer: able (-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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “book”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “book” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

book vs boy
50% similar
book vs box
50% similar
book vs bro
50% similar

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

Key facts for book
PropertyValue
Headwordbook
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bʊk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#353
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “book”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).booklands 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 “able” (#352), “early” (#354), “within” (#351). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “book” is #353. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for book is neighbouring look-alikes ("boy", "box", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bʊk/. Frequency #353 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 21 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for book, with forms such as "bbook", "bookk", and "obok". 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, "boy", "box", "bro", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵosder.? Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g-der.? Proto-Germanic *bōks Proto-West Germanic *bōk Old English bōc Middle English bok English book From Middle English bok, book, from Old English bōc, from Proto-West Germanic *… The correct English form is book, spelled B-O-O-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
  2. 2
    A long work fit for publication, typically prose, such as a novel or textbook, and typically published as such a bound collection of sheets, but now sometimes electronically as an e-book.
  3. 3
    A major division of a long work.
  4. 4
    A record of betting (from the use of a notebook to record what each person has bet).
  5. 5
    A bookmaker (a person who takes bets on sporting events and similar); bookie; turf accountant.
  6. 6
    A convenient collection, in a form resembling a book, of small paper items for individual use.
  7. 7
    The script of a musical or opera.
  8. 8
    Records of the accounts of a business.
  9. 9
    A book award, a recognition for receiving the highest grade in a class (traditionally an actual book, but recently more likely a letter or certificate acknowledging the achievement).
  10. 10
    Six tricks taken by one side.
  11. 11
    Four of a kind.
  12. 12
    A document, held by the referee, of the incidents that happened in a game.
  13. 13
    A list of all players who have been booked (received a warning) in a game.
  14. 14
    The list of mares that a stallion will breed in a given season.
  15. 15
    A list of the races that a jockey is scheduled to ride in.
  16. 16
    The twenty-sixth Lenormand card.
  17. 17
    Any source of instruction.
  18. 18
    The accumulated body of knowledge passed down among black pimps.
  19. 19
    A portfolio of one's previous work in the industry.
  20. 20
    The sum of chess knowledge in the opening or endgame.
  21. 21
    A package of silk.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Knowing I lou'd my bookes, he furniſhd me / From mine owne Library, with volumes, that / I prize aboue my Dukedome.
  2. I repeat: it suffices that a book be possible for it to exist. Only the impossible is excluded. For example: no book can be a ladder, although no doubt there are books which discuss and negate and demonstrate this possibility and others whose structure corresponds to that of a ladder.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵosder.? Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g-der.? Proto-Germanic *bōks Proto-West Germanic *bōk Old English bōc Middle English bok English book From Middle English bok, book, from Old English bōc, from Proto-West Germanic *bōk, from Proto-Germanic *bōks. Bookmaker sense by clipping. Cognates Cognate with Scots beuk, buik, buke (“book”), Yola buke (“book”), North Frisian Bok, buk, bök (“book”), Saterland Frisian Bouk (“book”), West Frisian, Dutch boek (“book”), Alemannic German Buech (“book”), Bavarian Buach (“book”), Central Franconian Booch, Buch (“book”), German, Luxembourgish Buch (“book”), German Low German Book (“book”), Limburgish book, Bouk (“book”), Vilamovian büch (“book”), Yiddish בוך (bukh, “book”), Danish bog (“book”), Elfdalian buok (“book”), Faroese, Icelandic bók (“book”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish bok (“book”).

Synonyms

book

This word in other languages

libro(Español)livre(Français)Buch(Deutsch)livro(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbook
  • bookk
  • obok

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of book - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bbook1bookk1obok2
Edit distance from "book"

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 "book"?
"book" is spelled B-O-O-K. The IPA pronunciation is /bʊk/.
What does "book" mean?
As a noun, "book" means: A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "book"?
"book" is commonly confused with "boy", "box", "bro". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "book"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "book" is /bʊk/. 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 "book"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵosder.? Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g-der.? Proto-Germanic *bōks Proto-West Germanic *bōk Old English bōc Middle English bok English book From Middle English bok, book, from Old English bōc, from Proto-West ... 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 "book", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

able#352I'll#356news#350hope#346

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list