bore
/bɔː(ɹ)/
"bore" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bore” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #7,889) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #7,889
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - To inspire boredom in somebody.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bore · bore · English
bore · rank #7,889 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,889
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bloom
Nearest frequency peer: bloom (-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 neighbourhood for “bore”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- begging
begging
92,115 corpus weight
- Berkeley
Berkeley
92,114 corpus weight
- bloom
bloom
92,113 corpus weight
- bore
bore
92,112 corpus weight
- bundle
bundle
92,111 corpus weight
- butterfly
butterfly
92,110 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “bore” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bore |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɔː(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,889 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bore” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for bore is neighbouring look-alikes ("br", "boy", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /bɔː(ɹ)/. Frequency #7,889 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 10 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bore, with forms such as "bbore", "borre", and "broe". 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, "br", "boy", "box", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 pie… The correct English form is bore, spelled B-O-R-E.
Definition
- 1To inspire boredom in somebody.
- 2To make a hole through something.
- 3To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.
- 4To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.
- 5To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.
- 6To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.
- 7To glare (as if to drill a hole with the eyes).
- 8To push or drive (a boxer into the ropes, a boat out of its course, etc.).
- 9To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.
- 10To fool; to trick.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bore appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
to bore someone to death
Reading books really bores me; films are much more exciting.
Etymology
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.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bbore
- borre
- broe
- obre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bore - 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.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bore", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency 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.