burlap
/ˈbɝlæp/
"burlap" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“burlap” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,041. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #42,041
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A very strong, coarse cloth, made from jute, flax, or hemp, and used to make sacks, etc.
Corpus desk
Index EN-burlap · burlap · English
burlap · rank #42,041 · 9 variants · 10 confusables
- FREQ-MID #42,041
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 10 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH buckling
Nearest frequency peer: buckling (-2 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 “burlap”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- bream
bream
57,964 corpus weight
- Brough
Brough
57,963 corpus weight
- buckling
buckling
57,962 corpus weight
- burlap
burlap
57,960 corpus weight
- Cadiz
Cadiz
57,957 corpus weight
- Caicos
Caicos
57,956 corpus weight
What this shows “burlap” 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 | burlap |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɝlæp/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #42,041 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “burlap”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around burlap (IPA /ˈbɝlæp/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,041 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A very strong, coarse cloth, made from jute, flax, or hemp, and used to make sacks, etc.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for burlap, with forms such as "bburlap", "brulap", and "bulrap". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "burp", "Burma", "burly", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain. Attested since about 1695 in the spelling bore-lap, borelapp. Likely from burel (“a coarse woollen cloth”) + lap (“flap of a garment”), where the first element is from Middle English burel, borel. Others feel that "its character and time of appea… The correct English form is burlap, spelled B-U-R-L-A-P.
Definition
- 1A very strong, coarse cloth, made from jute, flax, or hemp, and used to make sacks, etc.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how burlap appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“A ranger responded and found two whole chickens in a burlap sack in a hot spring,” she said. A cooking pot was also found nearby.
Etymology
Uncertain. Attested since about 1695 in the spelling bore-lap, borelapp. Likely from burel (“a coarse woollen cloth”) + lap (“flap of a garment”), where the first element is from Middle English burel, borel. Others feel that "its character and time of appearance makes a Dutch origin very likely" (and the earliest references as to its importation from the Netherlands); the NED suggests derivation from Dutch boenlap (“coarse, rubbing linen or cloth”) with the first element perhaps confused with boer (“farmer, peasant”). Bense similarly suggests derivation from an unattested Dutch *boerenlap, where boeren would be used in the sense of “coarse” as in boerenkost (“coarse, heavy food as is eaten by farmers”) or boerenpraat (“coarse, rural speech”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bburlap
- brulap
- bulrap
- buralp
- burlapp
- burllap
- burlpa
- burrlap
- ubrlap
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of burlap - 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
How do you spell "burlap"?
What does "burlap" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "burlap"?
How do you pronounce "burlap"?
What is the origin of the word "burlap"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "burlap", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).