bungling
adjective, noun, verb
bungling is spelled B-U-N-G-L-I-N-G: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bungling means “Incompetent or inept” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bungling?
| Letters | 8: B-U-N-G-L-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,913th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is bungling?
Bungling appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th 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 bungling?
Bungling has 3 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).
Forms of bungling
- more bungling comparative
- most bungling superlative
- bunglings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bungling mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Incompetent or inept.
Harry made a bungling attempt to catch the ball.
noun
- 1
An act of incompetence or ineptitude.
Your bungling nearly cost us our jobs.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of bungle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bungling in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense incompetence:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | deslize, gafe |
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 bungling come from?
From the verb bungle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).