humbucker
"humbucker" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“humbucker” is uncommon English (frequency #93,806 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #93,806
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A pickup, on an electric guitar, that has a pair of coils of reverse polarity connected in series in order to reduce buzzing noise caused by mains frequency.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | humbucker |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #93,806 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “humbucker” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
humbucker is uncommon English at frequency #93,806 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A pickup, on an electric guitar, that has a pair of coils of reverse polarity connected in series in order to reduce buzzing noise caused by mains frequency.".
No misspelling variants are generated for humbucker in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hum (“noise”) + buck (“resist, overcome”) + -er. The correct English form is humbucker, spelled H-U-M-B-U-C-K-E-R.
Definition
- 1A pickup, on an electric guitar, that has a pair of coils of reverse polarity connected in series in order to reduce buzzing noise caused by mains frequency.
Etymology
From hum (“noise”) + buck (“resist, overcome”) + -er.
Synonyms
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 “humbucker”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M-B-U-C-K-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.