bough
/baʊ/
"bough" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bough” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,156 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #40,156
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk.
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 | bough |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /baʊ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #40,156 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bough” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bough is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /baʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,156 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 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 bough, with forms such as "bbough", "boguh", and "bouggh". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bug", "bush", "bout", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *bʰeh₂ǵʰús From Middle English bough (“branch of a bush or tree, especially a main branch; limb of an animal or person; something resembling a branch (such as a plant root or branch of a nerve); (figuratively) Christian cross; descendant, offsprin… The correct English form is bough, spelled B-O-U-G-H.
Definition
- 1A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk.
- 2A gallows.
Etymology
PIE word *bʰeh₂ǵʰús From Middle English bough (“branch of a bush or tree, especially a main branch; limb of an animal or person; something resembling a branch (such as a plant root or branch of a nerve); (figuratively) Christian cross; descendant, offspring”) [and other forms], from Old English bōg, bōh (“tree bough or branch; arm; shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōgu, from Proto-Germanic *bōguz (“shoulder; upper arm”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵʰús (“arm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bouch, West Frisian boech, Dutch boeg, German Low German Boog, German Bug, Danish bov, Icelandic bógur, and distantly with Ancient Greek πῆχυς (pêkhus, “forearm, cubit, etc.”). Doublet of bow ("front of a ship, prow").
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbough,boguh,bouggh,boughh,bouhg,buogh,obugh
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bough - 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 "bough"?
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Using “bough”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-U-G-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /baʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bug” - see the side-by-side comparison. bough vs bug
- 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.