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PlainSpell

bubble

/ˈbʌbəl/noun, verb

bubble is spelled B-U-B-B-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bubble means “A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bubble is bubbles.

How many letters and syllables are in bubble?

Letters6: B-U-B-B-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing14 times per million words; the 5,496th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bubble?

Bubble appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th 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 bubble?

  • US /ˈbʌbəl/
  • US [ˈbʌbəl] ~ [ˈbʌbl̩]
  • Australia /ˈbɐbəl/

Bubble has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bubble.wav, En-us-bubble.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bubble?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bubble from its last stressed vowel (/ʌbəl/):

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 bubble

  • bubbles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bubbling participle, present
  • bubbled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bubble mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid.

  2. 2

    A small spherical cavity in a solid material.

    bubbles in window glass, or in a lens

  3. 3

    Anything resembling a hollow sphere.

  4. 4

    Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.

  5. 5

    A period of intense speculation in a market, causing prices to rise quickly to irrational levels as the metaphorical bubble expands, and then fall even more quickly as the bubble bursts.

    real estate bubble

  6. 6

    The emotional or physical atmosphere in which a subject is immersed; especially, a homogeneous atmosphere in which subjects are spared exposure to culture or ideas different from their own.

  7. 7

    An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.

  8. 8

    obsoleteSomeone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.

verb

  1. 1

    To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling).

    The laminate is bubbling.

  2. 2

    To churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface.

    Rage bubbled inside him.

  3. 3

    To rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid.

  4. 4

    obsoleterareTo cover or spread with bubbles

  5. 5

    archaicrareTo delude, dupe, or hoodwink; to cheat.

  6. 6

    ScotlandTo cry, weep.

  7. 7

    To pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch.

  8. 8

    To cause to feel as if bubbling or churning.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate bubble?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of bubble: bub.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bubble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbulle (spherically contained volume of air or other gas), trou (small spherical cavity in a solid), vent (anything lacking firmness or solidity), ambiance (emotional and/or physical atmosphere), bouillonner (to rise up in bubbles)
GermanBlase (spherically contained volume of air or other gas), blubbern (to rise up in bubbles)
Portuguesebolha, borbulha (spherically contained volume of air or other gas), borbulhar (to rise up in bubbles)
Spanishburbuja, pompa, campanilla (spherically contained volume of air or other gas), burbujear (to rise up in bubbles)

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 bubble come from?

Partly imitative, also influenced by burble. Compare Middle Dutch bobbe (“bubble”) > Dutch bubbel (“bubble”), Low German bubbel (“bubble”), Danish boble (“bubble”), Swedish bubbla (“bubble”). The word was first used in its economic sense in association with the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, based on the metaphor of an inflated soap bubble bursting.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bubble