prune
/pɹuːn/
"prune" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prune” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #30,551 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #30,551
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A plum.
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 | prune |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɹuːn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #30,551 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prune” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for prune is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹuːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #30,551 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for prune, with forms such as "pprune", "prnue", and "prrune". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pun", "pure", "punk", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English prune, from Old French prune, from Vulgar Latin *prūna, feminine singular formed from the neutral plural of Latin prūnum, from Ancient Greek προῦνον (proûnon), variant of προῦμνον (proûmnon, “plum”), a loanword from a language of Asia Mi… The correct English form is prune, spelled P-R-U-N-E.
Definition
- 1A plum.
- 2The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.
- 3Something wrinkly like a prune.
- 4An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.
Etymology
From Middle English prune, from Old French prune, from Vulgar Latin *prūna, feminine singular formed from the neutral plural of Latin prūnum, from Ancient Greek προῦνον (proûnon), variant of προῦμνον (proûmnon, “plum”), a loanword from a language of Asia Minor. Doublet of plum.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pprune,prnue,prrune,pruen,prunne,purne,rpune
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prune - 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
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Using “prune”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-U-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹuːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pun” - see the side-by-side comparison. prune vs pun
- 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.