broom
/bɹuːm/
"broom" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“broom” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,655 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,655
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
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 | broom |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɹuːm/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #16,655 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “broom” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for broom is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɹuːm/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,655 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for broom, with forms such as "bbroom", "borom", and "bromo". 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, "bros", "brow", "brown", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English brom, from Old English brōm (“brushwood”), from Proto-West Germanic *brām (“bramble”) (compare Saterland Frisian Brom, West Frisian brem, Dutch braam, German Low German Braam), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, from *bʰer- ‘edg… The correct English form is broom, spelled B-R-O-O-M.
Definition
- 1A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
- 2An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.
- 3Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, with long, stiff, thin branches and small or few leaves used for the domestic utensil.
- 4Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, with long, stiff, thin branches and small or few leaves used for the domestic utensil.
- 5Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, with long, stiff, thin branches and small or few leaves used for the domestic utensil.
- 6A firearm; especially, a shotgun.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English brom, from Old English brōm (“brushwood”), from Proto-West Germanic *brām (“bramble”) (compare Saterland Frisian Brom, West Frisian brem, Dutch braam, German Low German Braam), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, from *bʰer- ‘edge’. Related to brim, brink. Replaced English besom (from Old English besma (“broom, rod”)), which is now restricted in meaning to a particular kind of broom. (shotgun): So called because it is (like the cleaning utensil) long and held similarly to a besom and “cleans” what is in front.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbroom,borom,bromo,broomm,brroom,rboom
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of broom - 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
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Using “broom”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-O-O-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɹuːm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bros” - see the side-by-side comparison. broom vs bros
- 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.