bowl
/bəʊl/noun, verb
bowl is spelled B-O-W-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bowl means “As much as is held by a bowl” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bowl is bowls.
How many letters and syllables are in bowl?
| Letters | 4: B-O-W-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 43 times per million words; the 2,339th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bowl?
Bowl appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th 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 bowl?
- UK /bəʊl/
- [bɒʊ̯ɫ]
- /bɒl/
Bowl has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bowl.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bowl
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bowl?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bowl from its last stressed vowel (/əʊl/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: blow.
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 bowl
- bowls plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bowling participle, present
- bowled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bowl mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
As much as is held by a bowl.
You can’t have any more soup – you’ve had three bowls already.
- 2
A dish comprising a mix of different foods served in a bowl, usually named after the base ingredient at the bottom or after a different dish that it simulates.
This restaurant offers a number of different bowls.
- 3
The non-mesh outer-container part of a salad spinner.
- 4
The round container surface of a mortar (hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle).
- 5
A water bowl, such as for a pet.
- 6
One of the seven bowls of water used as ceremonial offerings in Buddhist practice.
- 7
One of the seven bowls representing plagues described in Revelations in Christian theology.
- 8
The round hollow part of anything; anything shaped like a bowl.
Dig out a bowl in the ground.
- 9
The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls.
- 10
The action of bowling a ball.
verb
- 1
To roll or throw (a ball) in the correct manner in cricket and similar games and sports.
- 2
To throw the ball (in cricket and similar games and sports).
- 3
To play bowling or a similar game.
- 4
To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels.
We were bowled rapidly along the road.
- 5
To pelt or strike with anything rolled.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bowl in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bol |
| German | Schale, Schüssel , Bowl , bowlen |
| Portuguese | tigela, malga , fornilho , estádio , bocha |
| Spanish | tazón, cuenco, bol, boul, bowl, bols |
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 bowl come from?
From Middle English bolle, from Old English bolla, bolle (“bowl, cup, pot, beaker, measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bollā, from Proto-Germanic *bullǭ (“ball, round vessel, bowl”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).