mouthguard

noun

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

"mouthguard" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mouthguard” is uncommon English (frequency #95,160 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#95,160
frequency rank, English
36,575
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device that fits into the mouth over one or both arches of the teeth and usually made of plastic. Such devices may protect against injury during sport or fighting or may serve a medical purpose.

Key facts for mouthguard
PropertyValue
Headwordmouthguard
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#95,160
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mouthguard” sits in English frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mouthguard is uncommon English at frequency #95,160 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A device that fits into the mouth over one or both arches of the teeth and usually made of plastic. Such devices may protect against injury during sport or fighting or may serve a medical purpose.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for mouthguard in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mouth + guard. The correct English form is mouthguard, spelled M-O-U-T-H-G-U-A-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A device that fits into the mouth over one or both arches of the teeth and usually made of plastic. Such devices may protect against injury during sport or fighting or may serve a medical purpose.

Etymology

From mouth + guard.

Synonyms

gumshield

This word in other languages

protector bucal(Español)protège-dent(Français)Mundschutz(Deutsch)

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 "mouthguard"?
"mouthguard" is spelled M-O-U-T-H-G-U-A-R-D.
What does "mouthguard" mean?
As a noun, "mouthguard" means: A device that fits into the mouth over one or both arches of the teeth and usually made of plastic. Such devices may protect against injury during sport or fighting or may serve a medical purpose.
What is the origin of the word "mouthguard"?
From mouth + guard. 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.

Using “mouthguard”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-O-U-T-H-G-U-A-R-D - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list