encumbrance
/ɪnˈkʌm.bɹəns/
"encumbrance" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“encumbrance” is uncommon English (frequency #76,754 among 2,246 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,754
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something that encumbers; a burden that must be carried.
Corpus desk
Index EN-encumbrance · encumbrance · English
encumbrance · rank #76,754 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #76,754
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH EMM
Nearest frequency peer: EMM (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “encumbrance”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- embryogenes…
embryogenesis
23,249 corpus weight
- EMM
EMM
23,248 corpus weight
- encumbrance
encumbrance
23,247 corpus weight
- energise
energise
23,246 corpus weight
- Engelmann
Engelmann
23,245 corpus weight
- ensuite
ensuite
23,244 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “encumbrance” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | encumbrance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɪnˈkʌm.bɹəns/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #76,754 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “encumbrance” in English
Rare enough to double-check
encumbrance is uncommon English at frequency #76,754 among 2,246 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɪnˈkʌm.bɹəns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for encumbrance, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English encombraunce, from Old French encombrance, from encombrer. The correct English form is encumbrance, spelled E-N-C-U-M-B-R-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1Something that encumbers; a burden that must be carried.
- 2Alternative spelling of incumbrance (“in law: interest attached to a title; dependent”).
- 3The state or condition of being encumbered.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how encumbrance appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Some consideration was necessary to decide whether or not to leave his rifle there. On the return, carrying the girl and a pack, it would be added encumbrance[…]
Etymology
From Middle English encombraunce, from Old French encombrance, from encombrer.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
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 "encumbrance", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).