burgh
/ˈbʌɹə/
"burgh" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“burgh” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #34,413 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #34,413
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - a small mound, often used in reference to tumuli (mostly restricted to place names).
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 | burgh |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbʌɹə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #34,413 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “burgh” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for burgh is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbʌɹə/. Corpus data places it at rank #34,413 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for burgh, with forms such as "bburgh", "brugh", and "bugrh". 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, "burn", "bush", "bury", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English borwe, borgh, burgh, buruh, from Old English burh, from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“city, stronghold”). Cognate with Dutch burg, French bourg, German Burg, Persian برج (borj, “tower; battlement, fort”), Swedis… The correct English form is burgh, spelled B-U-R-G-H.
Definition
- 1a small mound, often used in reference to tumuli (mostly restricted to place names).
- 2a borough or chartered town (now only used as an official subdivision in Scotland).
Etymology
From Middle English borwe, borgh, burgh, buruh, from Old English burh, from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“city, stronghold”). Cognate with Dutch burg, French bourg, German Burg, Persian برج (borj, “tower; battlement, fort”), Swedish borg. Doublet of borough, Brough, and Bury.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bburgh,brugh,bugrh,burggh,burghh,burhg,burrgh,ubrgh
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of burgh - 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 “burgh”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-R-G-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbʌɹə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “burn” - see the side-by-side comparison. burgh vs burn
- 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.