breakwater
/ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/
"breakwater" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“breakwater” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #44,096 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #44,096
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A construction in or around a harbour designed to break the force of the sea and to provide shelter for vessels lying inside.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | breakwater |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #44,096 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “breakwater” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for breakwater is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/. Corpus data places it at rank #44,096 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for breakwater, with forms such as "bbreakwater", "berakwater", and "braekwater". 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. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From break + water. Compare Dutch breekwater (“breakwater”). Compare firebreak. The correct English form is breakwater, spelled B-R-E-A-K-W-A-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1A construction in or around a harbour designed to break the force of the sea and to provide shelter for vessels lying inside.
- 2A low bulkhead across the forecastle deck of a ship which diverts water breaking over the bows into the scuppers.
- 3A wooden or concrete barrier, usually perpendicular to the shore, intended to prevent the movement of sand along a coast.
Etymology
From break + water. Compare Dutch breekwater (“breakwater”). Compare firebreak.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbreakwater,berakwater,braekwater,breakawter,breakkwater,breakwaetr,breakwaterr,breakwatre,breakwatter,breakwtaer,breakwwater,breawkater,brekawater,brreakwater,rbeakwater
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of breakwater - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "breakwater"?
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Using “breakwater”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-E-A-K-W-A-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/ (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.