Skip to main content
PlainSpell

bound

/ˈbaʊ̯nd/adjective, noun, verb

bound is spelled B-O-U-N-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bound means “Obliged (to)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in bound?

Letters5: B-O-U-N-D
Syllables1
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bound?

Bound appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th 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 bound?

  • US /ˈbaʊ̯nd/
  • /ˈbæʊ̯nd/
  • /ˈbaːnd/

Bound has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bound.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bound?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bound from its last stressed vowel (/aʊnd/):

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 bound

  • more bound comparative
  • most bound superlative
  • bounds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bounding participle, present
  • bounded participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bound mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Obliged (to).

    You are not legally bound to reply.

  2. 2

    That cannot stand alone as a free word.

  3. 3

    Constrained by a quantifier.

  4. 4

    datedConstipated; costive.

  5. 5

    Confined or restricted to a certain place.

    railbound

  6. 6

    Unable to move in certain conditions.

    snowbound

  7. 7

    obsoleteReady, prepared.

  8. 8

    Ready to start or go (to); moving in the direction (of).

    Which way are you bound? –I'm already homeward bound.

  9. 9

    Very likely (to), certain to

    They were bound to come into conflict eventually.

noun

  1. 1

    A boundary, the border which one must cross in order to enter or leave a territory.

    I reached the northern bound of my property, took a deep breath and walked on.

  2. 2

    A value which is known to be greater or smaller than a given set of values.

  3. 3

    A sizeable jump, great leap.

    The deer crossed the stream in a single bound.

  4. 4

    A spring from one foot to the other in dancing.

  5. 5

    datedA bounce; a rebound.

verb

  1. 1

    To surround a territory or other geographical entity; to form the boundary of.

    grounds bounded on three sides by a river.

  2. 2

    To be the bound of.

  3. 3

    To leap, move by jumping.

    The rabbit bounded down the lane.

  4. 4

    To cause to leap.

    to bound a horse

  5. 5

    datedTo rebound; to bounce.

    A rubber ball bounds on the floor.

  6. 6

    datedTo cause to rebound; to throw so that it will rebound; to bounce.

    to bound a ball on the floor

  7. 7

    simple past and past participle of bind (a form of bind)

    I bound the splint to my leg.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bound in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchobligé, tenu (obliged to), frontière, borne (boundary, border of territory), délimiter, entourer (to surround a territory)
Germanverpflichtet, gebunden (obliged to), Abgrenzung, Grenze (boundary, border of territory), bereit (ready, prepared), Schranke (mathematics: value greater (or smaller) than a…)
Portugueseobrigado (obliged to), limite, divisa (boundary, border of territory), limitar (to surround a territory), cota (mathematics: value greater (or smaller) than a…), salto (sizeable jump)
Spanishlindero (boundary, border of territory), limitado, constreñido, restringido, ligado, vinculado (constrained by something, or constrained to…)

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 bound come from?

From Middle English bound, bund (preterite) and bounden, bunden, ibunden, ȝebunden (past participle), from Old English bund- and bunden, ġebunden respectively. See bind.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bound