plunder
/ˈplʌndə/
"plunder" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“plunder” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,534 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #25,534
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | plunder |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈplʌndə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #25,534 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “plunder” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for plunder is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈplʌndə/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,534 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for plunder, with forms such as "lpunder", "pllunder", and "plnuder". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "plunge", "ponder", "punter", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, beddi… The correct English form is plunder, spelled P-L-U-N-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
- 2To take (goods) by pillage.
- 3To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
- 4To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
- 5To take unexpectedly.
Etymology
Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries. Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”). The Philippine definition originates with the Anti-Plunder Act (Republic Act No. 7080).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lpunder,pllunder,plnuder,pludner,plundder,plunderr,plundre,plunedr,plunnder,pplunder,pulnder
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plunder - 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.
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 "plunder"?
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Using “plunder”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-L-U-N-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈplʌndə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “plunge” - see the side-by-side comparison. plunder vs plunge
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.