boondoggle
/ˈbuːndɒɡl̩/
"boondoggle" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“boondoggle” is uncommon English (frequency #77,470 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #77,470
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A braided ring to hold a neckerchief.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | boondoggle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbuːndɒɡl̩/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #77,470 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “boondoggle” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
boondoggle is uncommon English at frequency #77,470 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbuːndɒɡl̩/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for boondoggle, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by American scout leader Robert H. Link in 1929; alternatively “boon doggle”. Compare woggle of similar sense, which is attested in the same period. In the sense of a “wasteful government program”, popularized in 1935 by The New York Times, in refere… The correct English form is boondoggle, spelled B-O-O-N-D-O-G-G-L-E.
Definition
- 1A braided ring to hold a neckerchief.
- 2A waste of time or money; a pointless activity.
- 3A non-work trip away from a research station.
Etymology
Coined by American scout leader Robert H. Link in 1929; alternatively “boon doggle”. Compare woggle of similar sense, which is attested in the same period. In the sense of a “wasteful government program”, popularized in 1935 by The New York Times, in reference to New Deal programs which were claimed to feature people making such braids.
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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Using “boondoggle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-O-N-D-O-G-G-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbuːndɒɡl̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.