Skip to main content
PlainSpell

mangle

man·gle/ˈmæŋ.ɡ(ə)l/verb, noun

mangle is spelled M-A-N-G-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables (man·gle). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, mangle means “To change, mutilate, or disfigure by cutting, tearing, rearranging, etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in mangle?

Letters6: M-A-N-G-L-E
Syllables2: man·gle
In writingabout once in every 4 million words; the 60,074th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is mangle?

Mangle appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th 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 mangle?

  • /ˈmæŋ.ɡ(ə)l/
  • /ˈmeɪ̯ŋ.ɡ(ə)l/
  • /ˈmɛ̃ŋ.ɡ(ə)l/

Mangle has 2 syllables, split man·gle in writing.

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

Words people confuse with mangle

Sounds like: mangel (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with mangle?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as mangle.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: mangel, legman.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of mangle

  • mangles present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • mangling participle, present
  • mangled participle, past

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

What does mangle mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To change, mutilate, or disfigure by cutting, tearing, rearranging, etc.

  2. 2

    To modify (an identifier from source code) so as to produce a unique identifier for internal use by the compiler, etc.

  3. 3

    archaicTo wring laundry.

noun

  1. 1

    A hand-operated device with rollers, for wringing laundry.

  2. 2

    The mangle attached to wringer washing machines, often called the wringer.

  3. 3

    USAny of various trees of the genus Rhizophora, especially the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle).

  4. 4

    USA forest of such trees.

  5. 5

    USPreceded by a descriptive word: any of various shrubs or trees of genera other than Rhizophora which resemble plants of this genus in appearance and habitat.

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

Mangle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmutiler (to change, mutilate or disfigure), essoreuse (a hand-operated device with rollers for…), essorer (to wring laundry)
Germanverstümmeln, zerfleischen, durch die Mangel drehen, kalandrieren, zurichten (to change, mutilate or disfigure), Mangel (a hand-operated device with rollers for…)
Portuguesemutilar, desfigurar, mudar (to change, mutilate or disfigure)
Spanishmutilar, desfigurar, afear, chambonear (to change, mutilate or disfigure), calandria (a hand-operated device with rollers for…)

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 mangle come from?

From Middle English mangelen, manglen, from Anglo-Norman mangler, mahangler, frequentative of either Old French mangonner (“to cut to pieces”) or mahaigner (“to mutilate”), of Germanic origin, for which see mayhem. Alternate etymology derives mangle from Middle English *mankelen, a frequentative form of manken (“to mutilate”), from Old English *mancian, bemancian (“to maim”). More at mank.

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

What to look up after mangle