bureau
/ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/
"bureau" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bureau” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,546 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,546
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An administrative unit of government; office.
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 | bureau |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #3,546 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bureau” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bureau is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,546 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for bureau, with forms such as "bbureau", "brueau", and "buerau". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Burma", "bursa", "burka", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“w… The correct English form is bureau, spelled B-U-R-E-A-U.
Definition
- 1An administrative unit of government; office.
- 2An organization or office for collecting or providing information or news.
- 3An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).
- 4A desk, usually with a cover and compartments that are located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath, and often used for storing papers.
- 5A chest of drawers for clothes.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbureau,brueau,buerau,buraeu,bureua,burreau,ubreau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bureau - 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 “bureau”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-R-E-A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Burma” - see the side-by-side comparison. bureau vs Burma
- 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.