bound
/ˈbaʊnd/
"bound" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bound” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,212 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #3,212
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of bind
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 | bound |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈbaʊnd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,212 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bound” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bound is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbaʊnd/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,212 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of bind".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for bound, with forms such as "bbound", "bonud", and "boudn". 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, "bud", "bun", "bout", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bound, bund (preterite) and bounden, bunden, ibunden, ȝebunden (past participle), from Old English bund- and bunden, ġebunden respectively. See bind. The correct English form is bound, spelled B-O-U-N-D.
Definition
- 1simple past and past participle of bind
Etymology
From Middle English bound, bund (preterite) and bounden, bunden, ibunden, ȝebunden (past participle), from Old English bund- and bunden, ġebunden respectively. See bind.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbound,bonud,boudn,boundd,bounnd,buond,obund
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bound - 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 "bound"?
What does "bound" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "bound"?
How do you pronounce "bound"?
What is the origin of the word "bound"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “bound”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-U-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbaʊnd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bud” - see the side-by-side comparison. bound vs bud
- 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.