# cobbler

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkɒblə/ · frequency rank #36,078

## Definitions
1. A person who repairs, and sometimes makes, shoes.
2. A sheep left to the end to be sheared (for example, because its wool is filthy, or because it is difficult to catch).
3. A person who cobbles (“to assemble or mend in an improvised or rough way”); a clumsy workman.

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English cobeler, cobelere (“mender of shoes, cobbler”) [and other forms]; further origin unknown. The word appears to be derived from an early form of cobble (“to mend roughly, patch; (specifically) to mend shoes, especially roughly”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns), but is attested much earlier than the verb which suggests that the verb may be a back-formation from cobbler.
Sense 2 (“sheep left to the end to be sheared”) is a pun on cobbler’s last (“tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes”); while sense 3 (“clumsy workman”) is derived from cobble + -er: see above.

## Easily confused with
- **cooler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobbler-vs-cooler)
- **coupler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobbler-vs-coupler)
- **cobble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobble-vs-cobbler)
- **cobbled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobbled-vs-cobbler)

## Common misspellings (9)
`cbobler`, `ccobbler`, `cobbelr`, `cobblerr`, `cobbller`, `cobblre`, `coblber`, `cobler`, `ocbbler`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cobbler