bosom
/ˈbʊz(ə)m/
"bosom" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bosom” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,075 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,075
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal).
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 | bosom |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbʊz(ə)m/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #27,075 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bosom” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bosom is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbʊz(ə)m/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,075 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for bosom, with forms such as "bbosom", "boosm", and "bosmo". 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, "boss", "Brom", "bozo", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bosom, bosum, from Old English bōsm, from Proto-West Germanic *bōsm, from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewH- (“to swell, bend, curve”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bossem, Bousem (“bosom”), West Frisian boezem (“… The correct English form is bosom, spelled B-O-S-O-M.
Definition
- 1The breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal).
- 2The seat of one's inner thoughts, feelings, etc.; one's secret feelings; desire.
- 3The protected interior or inner part of something; the area enclosed as by an embrace.
- 4The part of a dress etc. covering the chest; a neckline.
- 5A breast, one of a woman's breasts
- 6Any thing or place resembling the breast; a supporting surface; an inner recess; the interior.
- 7A depression round the eye of a millstone.
Etymology
From Middle English bosom, bosum, from Old English bōsm, from Proto-West Germanic *bōsm, from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewH- (“to swell, bend, curve”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bossem, Bousem (“bosom”), West Frisian boezem (“bosom”), Dutch boezem (“bosom”), German Busen (“bosom”). Related also to Albanian buzë (“lip”), Greek βυζί (vyzí, “breast”), Romanian buză (“lip”), Irish bus (“lip”), and Latin bucca (“cheek”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbosom,boosm,bosmo,bosomm,bossom,bsoom,obsom
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bosom - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "bosom"?
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Using “bosom”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-S-O-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbʊz(ə)m/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “boss” - see the side-by-side comparison. bosom vs boss
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.