burke
/bɜː(ɹ)k/
"burke" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“burke” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,645. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,645
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To murder by suffocation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-burke · burke · English
burke · rank #8,645 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,645
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bully
Nearest frequency peer: bully (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “burke”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- blades
blades
91,359 corpus weight
- Boris
Boris
91,358 corpus weight
- bully
bully
91,357 corpus weight
- burke
burke
91,356 corpus weight
- cables
cables
91,355 corpus weight
- calculate
calculate
91,354 corpus weight
What this shows “burke” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | burke |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɜː(ɹ)k/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,645 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “burke”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around burke (IPA /bɜː(ɹ)k/), averb. Corpus frequency is #8,645 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for burke, with forms such as "bburke", "bruke", and "bukre". 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", "bury", "Burt", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Eponymous, from William Burke. The correct English form is burke, spelled B-U-R-K-E.
Definition
- 1To murder by suffocation.
- 2To murder for the same purpose as Burke, to kill in order to have a body to sell to anatomists, surgeons, etc.
- 3To smother; to conceal, hush up, suppress.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how burke appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
As soon as the executioner proceeded to his duty, the cries of ‘Burke him, Burke him—give him no rope’... were vociferated... ‘Burke Hare too!’
"I don’t know that," interrupted the landlady; "Williams is a good hanging name: there was Williams who murdered the Marr's family, and Williams who burked all those poor dear children; I dare say he is some relation of theirs; but to think of his coming to the White Hart—it's no place for his doings, I can tell him: he sha'n't poison his wife in my house…
Etymology
Eponymous, from William Burke.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bburke
- bruke
- bukre
- burek
- burkke
- burrke
- ubrke
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of burke - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "burke", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).