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PlainSpell

rumble

/ˈɹʌmb(ə)l/noun, verb, interjection

rumble is spelled R-U-M-B-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rumble means “A low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rumble is rumbles.

How many letters and syllables are in rumble?

Letters6: R-U-M-B-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is rumble?

Rumble appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce rumble?

  • US /ˈɹʌmb(ə)l/
  • Australia /ˈɹɐmb(ə)l/
  • /ˈɹʊmb(ə)l/

Rumble has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-rumble.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with rumble?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as rumble (/ʌmbl/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: lumber.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of rumble

  • rumbles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • rummle
  • rommle
  • rumbling participle, present
  • rumbled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does rumble mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.

    The rumble from passing trucks made it hard to sleep at night.

  2. 2

    slangA street fight or brawl.

  3. 3

    A rotating cask or box in which small articles are smoothed or polished by friction against each other.

  4. 4

    datedA seat for servants, behind the body of a carriage.

verb

  1. 1

    To make a low, heavy, continuous sound.

    If I don't eat, my stomach will rumble.

  2. 2

    To discover deceitful or underhanded behaviour.

    The police is going to rumble your hideout.

  3. 3

    To move while making a rumbling noise.

    The truck rumbled over the rough road.

  4. 4

    slangTo fight; to brawl.

  5. 5

    To provide haptic feedback by vibrating.

  6. 6

    To cause to pass through a rumble, or polishing machine.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo murmur; to ripple.

interjection

  1. 1

    An onomatopoeia describing a rumbling noise

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Rumble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchborborygme, gargouillement, grondement (low, heavy, continuous sound), gronder, gargouiller (to make a low pitched noise)
GermanPoltern, Rumpeln, Grollen (low, heavy, continuous sound), rumpeln, knurren (to make a low pitched noise), Schlägerei (street fight or brawl)
Portugueseronco, ribombo (low, heavy, continuous sound), roncar (to make a low pitched noise), briga (street fight or brawl), brigar (to fight, brawl)
Spanishretumbar, rugir, rimbombar (to make a low pitched noise), pelea callejera, riña (street fight or brawl)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does rumble come from?

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome + -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin. Compare typologically Russian громи́ть (gromítʹ), погро́м (pogróm), разгро́м (razgróm) (akin to гром (grom), греме́ть (gremétʹ), громыха́ть (gromyxátʹ)). Also compare гро́хнуть (gróxnutʹ) (akin to гро́хот (gróxot)).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after rumble