# rubble

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɹʌb.əl/ · frequency rank #16,336

## Definitions
1. The broken remains of an object, usually rock or masonry.
2. A mass or stratum of fragments of rock lying under the alluvium and derived from the neighbouring rock.
3. The whole of the bran of wheat before it is sorted into pollard, bran, etc.

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English rouble, rubel, robel, robeil, from Anglo-Norman *robel (“bits of broken stone”). Presumably related to rubbish, originally of same meaning (waste material, bits of stone, rubble). Ultimately presumably from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", possibly also "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”), related to Proto-Germanic *reufaną (“to tear”), *raubōną (“to rob, steal, plunder”), perhaps via Old French robe (English rob (“steal”)) in sense of “plunder, destroy”; see also Middle English, Middle French -el.

## Easily confused with
- **rule** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubble-vs-rule)
- **rube** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubble-vs-rube)
- **ruble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubble-vs-ruble)
- **rumble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubble-vs-rumble)
- **ruffle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubble-vs-ruffle)
- **rustle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubble-vs-rustle)
- **rubber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubber-vs-rubble)
- **rubbed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rubbed-vs-rubble)
- **rabble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rabble-vs-rubble)
- **ramble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ramble-vs-rubble)

## Common misspellings (6)
`rbuble`, `rrubble`, `rubbel`, `rubblle`, `rublbe`, `urbble`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/rubble