bore
/boɹ/verb, noun
bore is spelled B-O-R-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “boor vs bore” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, bore means “To inspire boredom in somebody” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bore?
| Letters | 4: B-O-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 common is bore?
Bore appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 bore?
- UK /bɔː/
- US /boɹ/
- /bo(ː)ɹ/
Bore has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bore.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bore
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: boar (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bore?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bore from its last stressed vowel (/oɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: robe.
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 bore
- bores present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- boring participle, present
- bored participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bore mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To inspire boredom in somebody.
to bore someone to death
- 2
To make a hole through something.
- 3
To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.
to bore for water or oil
- 4
To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.
to bore a steam cylinder or a gun barrel; to bore a hole
- 5
To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.
to bore one’s way through a crowd
- 6
To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.
This timber does not bore well.
- 7
To glare (as if to drill a hole with the eyes).
Their eyes bore into my back.
- 8
slangTo push or drive (a boxer into the ropes, a boat out of its course, etc.).
- 9
simple past of bear
- 10
colloquialpast participle of bear
- 11
proscribedsimple past of bare
noun
- 1
A hole drilled, bored, or milled through something.
the bore of a cannon
- 2
AustraliaA borehole sunk into an artesian basin to provide a source of water.
- 3
The diameter of such a hole.
- 4
The diameter of a cylinder in a piston engine or compressor.
The bore times the stroke times the number of cylinders equals displacement.
- 5
The tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired, or (by extension) its diameter.
- 6
A tool, such as an auger, for making a hole by boring.
- 7
A capped well drilled to tap artesian water.
- 8
The place where such a well exists.
- 9
A sudden and rapid flow of tide occurring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up as a wave.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bore in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | percer , ennuyer, barber , mascaret |
| German | bohren , langweilen , Gezeitenwelle , Bohrung , Langweiler |
| Portuguese | cavar , chatear, aborrecer, entediar , cano, calibre |
| Spanish | perforar, horadar, agujerear , aburrir , pesado , ánima |
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 bore come from?
From Middle English boren, from Old English borian (“to pierce”), from Proto-West Germanic *borōn, from Proto-Germanic *burōną. Compare Danish bore, Norwegian Bokmål bore, Dutch boren, German bohren, Old Norse bora. Cognate with Latin forō (“to bore, to pierce”), Latin feriō (“strike, cut”) and Albanian birë (“hole”). Sense of wearying may come from a figurative use such as "to bore the ears"; compare German drillen.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).