broil
/bɹɔɪl/
"broil" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“broil” is uncommon English (frequency #56,636 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,636
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To cook by direct, radiant heat.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | broil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɹɔɪl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #56,636 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “broil” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
broil is uncommon English at frequency #56,636 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /bɹɔɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for broil, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English broylen, brulen (“to broil, cook”), from Anglo-Norman bruiller, broiller (“to broil, roast”), Old French brusler, bruller (“to broil, roast, char”), a blend of two Old French verbs: * bruir (“to burn”), from Frankish *brōjan (“to burn, s… The correct English form is broil, spelled B-R-O-I-L.
Definition
- 1To cook by direct, radiant heat.
- 2To expose to great heat.
- 3To be exposed to great heat.
Etymology
From Middle English broylen, brulen (“to broil, cook”), from Anglo-Norman bruiller, broiller (“to broil, roast”), Old French brusler, bruller (“to broil, roast, char”), a blend of two Old French verbs: * bruir (“to burn”), from Frankish *brōjan (“to burn, scald”) * usler (“to scorch”), from Latin ustulō (“to scorch”)
This word in other languages
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
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Using “broil”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-O-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɹɔɪl/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.