bothersome
/ˈbɔðəsəm/
"bothersome" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bothersome” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #42,555 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #42,555
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Causing trouble, annoyance, inconvenience, irritation, or perplexity.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bothersome |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈbɔðəsəm/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #42,555 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bothersome” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bothersome is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɔðəsəm/. Corpus data places it at rank #42,555 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Causing trouble, annoyance, inconvenience, irritation, or perplexity.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for bothersome, with forms such as "bbothersome", "bohtersome", and "botehrsome". 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 is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From bother + -some. The correct English form is bothersome, spelled B-O-T-H-E-R-S-O-M-E.
Definition
- 1Causing trouble, annoyance, inconvenience, irritation, or perplexity.
Etymology
From bother + -some.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbothersome,bohtersome,botehrsome,botherosme,botherrsome,bothersmoe,bothersoem,bothersomme,botherssome,bothesrome,bothhersome,bothresome,botthersome,btohersome,obthersome
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bothersome - 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 "bothersome"?
What does "bothersome" mean?
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Using “bothersome”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-T-H-E-R-S-O-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɔðəsəm/ (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
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.