mournful

Name: mournful, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/ˈmɔɹnfəl/

//ˈmɔɹnfəl// adj

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“mournful” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #40,350. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#40,350
frequency rank, English: 4,057
“M” headwords: 12
tracked misspellings: 1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Filled with grief or sadness; being in a state in which one mourns.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mournful · mournful · English

mournful · rank #40,350 · 12 variants · 1 confusable

FREQ-MID #40,350
LEN-LONG 8 letters
VOW-3 3 vowels
CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
VAR-MID 12 variants
BOOK-MID 4,057
PHOTO-FINISH mountaintop

Nearest frequency peer: mountaintop (-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.

monetization

59,654
mountaintop

59,652
mournful

59,651
MRT

59,650
muh

59,649
mullah

59,648

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

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

mournful vs mouthful

75% similar

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

Key facts for mournful
Property	Value
Headword	mournful
Language	English
Part of speech	Adjective
IPA	/ˈmɔɹnfəl/
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#40,350
Misspellings tracked	12
Confusable pairs	1
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “mournful”

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).mournfullands here:

#40,350

#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 “mountaintop” (#40,349), “MRT” (#40,351), “muh” (#40,352). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mournful” is #40,350. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around mournful (IPA /ˈmɔɹnfəl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #40,350 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for mournful, with forms such as "mmournful", "morunful", and "mounrful". 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, "mouthful", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mourn + -ful. The correct English form is mournful, spelled M-O-U-R-N-F-U-L.

Definition

1
Filled with grief or sadness; being in a state in which one mourns.
2
Fit to inspire mourning; tragic.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant.

Etymology

From mourn + -ful.

This word in other languages

melancólico(Español)affligé(Français)pesaroso(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

mmournful
morunful
mounrful
mourfnul
mournfful
mournflu
mournfull
mournnful
mournufl
mourrnful
muornful
omurnful

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mournful - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

Edit distance from "mournful"

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 "mournful"?

"mournful" is spelled M-O-U-R-N-F-U-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɔɹnfəl/.

What does "mournful" mean?

As an adjective, "mournful" means: Filled with grief or sadness; being in a state in which one mourns.

What words are commonly confused with "mournful"?

"mournful" is commonly confused with "mouthful". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "mournful"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mournful" is /ˈmɔɹnfəl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What is the origin of the word "mournful"?

From mourn + -ful. 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 "mournful", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

misnomer#40,341 Metcalfe#40,339 mesquite#40,338 loveless#40,328

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

lookalike12 variants Laguardia12 variants petulant12 variants powerball12 variants