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PlainSpell

fumble

fum·ble/ˈfʌmbəl/verb, noun

fumble is spelled F-U-M-B-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables (fum·ble). It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, fumble means “To handle nervously or awkwardly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in fumble?

Letters6: F-U-M-B-L-E
Syllables2: fum·ble
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is fumble?

Fumble appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce fumble?

  • /ˈfʌmbəl/
  • /ˈfʊmbəl/

Fumble has 2 syllables, split fum·ble in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fumble.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fumble

  • fumbles present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • fumbling participle, present
  • fumbled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fumble mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To handle nervously or awkwardly.

    Waiting for the interview, he fumbled with his tie.

  2. 2

    To grope awkwardly in trying to find something

    He fumbled for his keys.

  3. 3

    To blunder uncertainly.

    He fumbled through his prepared speech.

  4. 4

    To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly.

    to fumble for an excuse

  5. 5

    To drop a ball or a baton etc. by accident.

  6. 6

    To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.

  7. 7

    obsoleteslangOf a man, to sexually underperform.

noun

  1. 1

    The dropping of a ball by accident.

  2. 2

    A clumsy sexual encounter.

    Suzy and Jimmy had a fumble behind the bike shed.

  3. 3

    UKA dessert similar to a cross between a fool and a crumble.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fumble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtripoter (to handle nervously or awkwardly), tâtonner (to grope awkwardly in trying to find something)
Germanfummeln (to handle nervously or awkwardly), patzen (to drop a ball or a baton etc), Fumble (accidental dropping of a ball)
Spanishmanosear, tanatear, meter la pata (to handle nervously or awkwardly), titubear (to blunder uncertainly)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does fumble come from?

From late Middle English, from Low German fummeln, fommeln, fammeln (German fummeln), or Dutch fommelen. Or, perhaps from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source; compare related Old Norse fálma, Icelandic fálma, Danish fumle, especially Swedish fumla, famla, with variants: fumbla (“fumble”), fambla (“famble”), related to Swedish fim, fem (Danish fim, Norwegian fim, feima), with a root meaning of “cover, coating of foam or figuratively ditto”, cognate to German Feim (“surf”) and English foam.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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