brooding

/ˈbɹuːdɪŋ/

//ˈbɹuːdɪŋ// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"brooding" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“brooding” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #25,000. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#25,000
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
10
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Broody; incubating eggs by sitting on them.

Corpus desk

Index EN-brooding · brooding · English

brooding · rank #25,000 · 12 variants · 10 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #25,000
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 10 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH Burberry

Nearest frequency peer: Burberry (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “brooding”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “brooding” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

brooding vs browsing
75% similar
brooding vs browning
75% similar
brooding vs booing
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for brooding
PropertyValue
Headwordbrooding
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈbɹuːdɪŋ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#25,000
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs10
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “brooding”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).broodinglands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Burberry” (#25,001), “bree” (#24,998), “canes” (#25,002). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “brooding” is #25,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around brooding (IPA /ˈbɹuːdɪŋ/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #25,000 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for brooding, with forms such as "bbrooding", "boroding", and "broding". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "browsing", "browning", "booing", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is brooding, spelled B-R-O-O-D-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Broody; incubating eggs by sitting on them.
  2. 2
    Deeply or seriously thoughtful.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how brooding appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. A brooding hen can be aggressive.
  2. You like T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"? You must be so brooding and deep.

This word in other languages

meditativo(Español)méditatif(Français)grübelnd(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbrooding
  • boroding
  • broding
  • brodoing
  • broodding
  • broodign
  • broodingg
  • broodinng
  • broodnig
  • brooidng
  • brrooding
  • rbooding

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of brooding - 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.

bbrooding1boroding2broding1brodoing2broodding1broodign2broodingg1broodinng1
Edit distance from "brooding"

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 "brooding"?
"brooding" is spelled B-R-O-O-D-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈbɹuːdɪŋ/.
What does "brooding" mean?
As an adjective, "brooding" means: Broody; incubating eggs by sitting on them.
What words are commonly confused with "brooding"?
"brooding" is commonly confused with "browsing", "browning", "booing". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "brooding"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "brooding" is /ˈbɹuːdɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "brooding" come from?
"brooding" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "brooding", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Burberry#25,001bookshop#24,994Bathurst#24,989Cochrane#25,011

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

backfire12 variantscyclops12 variantsdispense12 variantswondrous12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list