rubella

/ɹuːˈbɛlə/

//ɹuːˈbɛlə// noun

"rubella" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“rubella” is uncommon English (frequency #51,375 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,375
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A mild disease caused by the Rubella virus infecting the respiratory tract, and characterised by a rash of pink dots, fever and swollen lymph nodes.

Corpus desk

Index EN-rubella · rubella · English

rubella · rank #51,375 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,375
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH RSV

Nearest frequency peer: RSV (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “rubella”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “rubella” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rubella
PropertyValue
Headwordrubella
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɹuːˈbɛlə/
Letters7
Frequency rank#51,375
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “rubella” in English

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

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “RSV” (#51,374), “rosin” (#51,373), “Robeson” (#51,370). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “rubella” is #51,375. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rubella is uncommon English at frequency #51,375 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɹuːˈbɛlə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A mild disease caused by the Rubella virus infecting the respiratory tract, and characterised by a rash of pink dots, fever and swollen lymph nodes.".

rubella has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin rubellus (“reddish”), diminutive of ruber (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-. The correct English form is rubella, spelled R-U-B-E-L-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A mild disease caused by the Rubella virus infecting the respiratory tract, and characterised by a rash of pink dots, fever and swollen lymph nodes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how rubella appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. At issue is the so-called MMR vaccine, which immunizes children against measles, mumps and rubella, three potentially deadly diseases that were once common and have been mostly wiped out.
  2. They have congenital rubella syndrome, which they acquired during an outbreak of the rubella virus, or German measles.

Etymology

From Latin rubellus (“reddish”), diminutive of ruber (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-.

Synonyms

epidemic roseolaFrench measlesGerman measlesLiberty measlesthree-day measles3-day measlesfalse measles

This word in other languages

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 "rubella"?
"rubella" is spelled R-U-B-E-L-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹuːˈbɛlə/.
What does "rubella" mean?
As a noun, "rubella" means: A mild disease caused by the Rubella virus infecting the respiratory tract, and characterised by a rash of pink dots, fever and swollen lymph nodes.
How do you pronounce "rubella"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rubella" is /ɹuːˈbɛlə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "rubella"?
From Latin rubellus (“reddish”), diminutive of ruber (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rubella", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list