marbles

noun

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

The verdict

“marbles” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #22,737. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#22,737
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several children's games played with small balls (made of marble or more commonly glass).

Corpus desk

Index EN-marbles · marbles · English

marbles · rank #22,737 · 11 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #22,737
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH mammalian

Nearest frequency peer: mammalian (-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 “marbles”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “marbles” 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).

marbles vs mares
71% similar
marbles vs Marley
57% similar
marbles vs Marple
57% similar

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

Key facts for marbles
PropertyValue
Headwordmarbles
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#22,737
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “marbles”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).marbleslands 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 “mammalian” (#22,736), “Marcia” (#22,738), “magma” (#22,735). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “marbles” is #22,737. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around marbles, anoun. Corpus frequency is #22,737 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for marbles, with forms such as "amrbles", "mabrles", and "marbbles". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "mares", "Marley", "Marple", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is marbles, spelled M-A-R-B-L-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of several children's games played with small balls (made of marble or more commonly glass).
  2. 2
    Sanity.
  3. 3
    Bits of rolled-up rubber shed by the tires of race cars that accumulate at the edges of the track, especially at the corners.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Egyptian boys played marbles before the days of Moses.
  2. Grandpa's lost his marbles, but at least he still recognizes us.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amrbles
  • mabrles
  • marbbles
  • marbels
  • marbless
  • marblles
  • marblse
  • marlbes
  • marrbles
  • mmarbles
  • mrables

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of marbles - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

amrbles2mabrles2marbbles1marbels2marbless1marblles1marblse2marlbes2
Edit distance from "marbles"

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 "marbles"?
"marbles" is spelled M-A-R-B-L-E-S.
What does "marbles" mean?
As a noun, "marbles" means: Any of several children's games played with small balls (made of marble or more commonly glass).
What words are commonly confused with "marbles"?
"marbles" is commonly confused with "mares", "Marley", "Marple". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "marbles" come from?
"marbles" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "marbles", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list