encumbrance
/ɪnˈkʌm.bɹəns/
"encumbrance" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“encumbrance” is uncommon English (frequency #76,754 among 18,836 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,754
- frequency rank, English
- 18,836
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Something that encumbers; a burden that must be carried.
| 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) |
Where “encumbrance” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
encumbrance is uncommon English at frequency #76,754 among 18,836 “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.
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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Using “encumbrance”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-N-C-U-M-B-R-A-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈkʌm.bɹəns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.