poodle
/ˈpuː.dəl/
"poodle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“poodle” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,333 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,333
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A breed of dog originating in Europe as hunting dogs, and having heavy, curly coat in a solid color; their shoulder height indicates their classification as standard, medium, miniature, or toy.
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 | poodle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpuː.dəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #28,333 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “poodle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for poodle is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpuː.dəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,333 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for poodle, with forms such as "opodle", "podle", and "podole". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "pool", "pools", "Poole", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From German Pudel, a shortened form of Pudelhund, a compound of Hund (“dog”) and the German Low German term Pudel, Pūdel (“puddle”), from the onomatopoeic term pudeln (“to splash about”). First attested in 1773 in the noun sense 1. The verb sense references… The correct English form is poodle, spelled P-O-O-D-L-E.
Definition
- 1A breed of dog originating in Europe as hunting dogs, and having heavy, curly coat in a solid color; their shoulder height indicates their classification as standard, medium, miniature, or toy.
- 2A person servile towards someone whom they consider their superior.
Etymology
From German Pudel, a shortened form of Pudelhund, a compound of Hund (“dog”) and the German Low German term Pudel, Pūdel (“puddle”), from the onomatopoeic term pudeln (“to splash about”). First attested in 1773 in the noun sense 1. The verb sense references the appearance a poodle with shaved legs, displaying its skin.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opodle,podle,podole,pooddle,poodel,poodlle,poolde,ppoodle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of poodle - 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.
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 "poodle"?
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Using “poodle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-O-D-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpuː.dəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pool” - see the side-by-side comparison. poodle vs pool
- 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.