jawbone

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"jawbone" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“jawbone” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,719. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#42,719
frequency rank, English
796
“J” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible.

Corpus desk

Index EN-jawbone · jawbone · English

jawbone · rank #42,719 · 10 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #42,719
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 796
  • PHOTO-FINISH jittery

Nearest frequency peer: jittery (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “jawbone”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “jawbone” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

jawbone vs jawline
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for jawbone
PropertyValue
Headwordjawbone
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#42,719
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “jawbone”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).jawbonelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “jittery” (#42,720), “judicious” (#42,722), “irreconcilable” (#42,715). Among 796 “J” headwords, “jawbone” is #42,719. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around jawbone, anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,719 among 796 “J” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for jawbone, with forms such as "ajwbone", "jabwone", and "jawbbone". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "jawline", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English jawe bone, a partial calque of earlier Middle English chawlbone, chawylbon, chavylbone, chawle boon, chavyl bon (“jaw bone”, literally “chavel bone”), see chavel-bone; equivalent to jaw + bone. The correct English form is jawbone, spelled J-A-W-B-O-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible.
  2. 2
    Any of the bones in the lower or upper jaw.
  3. 3
    A shaken musical instrument (an idiophone) made from the jawbone of an animal and shaken such that the teeth vibrate in their sockets to produce sound.
  4. 4
    Credit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how jawbone appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 14 ¶ And when he came vnto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily vpon him, and the cordes that were vpon his armes became as flaxe that was burnt with fire, & his bands loosed from off his hands. 15 And he found a new iawbone of an asse, and put foorth his hand, and tooke it, and slewe a thousand men therewith…
  2. We have a few persons whose pockets are to let—men who have more complaints than dollars—individuals who, in digger's parlance, live on jawbone (credit), and are always to be found at saloons; a class of men who, when they are here, wish themselves yonder, and when yonder, wish themselves back.

Etymology

From Middle English jawe bone, a partial calque of earlier Middle English chawlbone, chawylbon, chavylbone, chawle boon, chavyl bon (“jaw bone”, literally “chavel bone”), see chavel-bone; equivalent to jaw + bone.

Synonyms

inferior maxillary bonelower jawmandiblesubmaxilladentarydentary bonemaxilla

This word in other languages

mandíbula(Español)mandibule(Français)Kiefer(Deutsch)mandíbula(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ajwbone
  • jabwone
  • jawbbone
  • jawbnoe
  • jawboen
  • jawbonne
  • jawobne
  • jawwbone
  • jjawbone
  • jwabone

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of jawbone - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ajwbone2jabwone2jawbbone1jawbnoe2jawboen2jawbonne1jawobne2jawwbone1
Edit distance from "jawbone"

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

How do you spell "jawbone"?
"jawbone" is spelled J-A-W-B-O-N-E.
What does "jawbone" mean?
As a noun, "jawbone" means: The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible.
What words are commonly confused with "jawbone"?
"jawbone" is commonly confused with "jawline". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "jawbone"?
From Middle English jawe bone, a partial calque of earlier Middle English chawlbone, chawylbon, chavylbone, chawle boon, chavyl bon (“jaw bone”, literally “chavel bone”), see chavel-bone; equivalent to jaw + bone. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "jawbone", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

jittery#42,720kinsman#42,730Kowloon#42,732hotshot#42,700

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

Hyland10 variantsloudness10 variantsMajorca10 variantsgrieved10 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list