trouble

/ˈtɹʌb.əl/

//ˈtɹʌb.əl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

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

The verdict

“trouble” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,707. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,707
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A distressing or dangerous situation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-trouble · trouble · English

trouble · rank #1,707 · 10 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,707
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH till

Nearest frequency peer: till (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “trouble”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “trouble” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

trouble vs troupe
71% similar
trouble vs Troubles
75% similar
trouble vs troubled
88% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for trouble
PropertyValue
Headwordtrouble
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈtɹʌb.əl/
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,707
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “trouble”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).troublelands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “till” (#1,706), “USA” (#1,708), “television” (#1,705). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “trouble” is #1,707. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around trouble (IPA /ˈtɹʌb.əl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,707 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 14 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for trouble, with forms such as "rtouble", "toruble", and "trobule". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "troupe", "Troubles", "troubled", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Verb is from Middle English troublen, trouble, borrowed from Old French troubler, trobler, trubler, metathetic variants of tourbler, torbler, turbler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Latin turbula (“disorderly group, a little crowd or people”), diminutive … The correct English form is trouble, spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A distressing or dangerous situation.
  2. 2
    A difficulty, problem, condition, or action contributing to such a situation.
  3. 3
    A person liable to place others or themselves in such a situation.
  4. 4
    The state of being troubled, disturbed, or distressed mentally; unease, disquiet.
  5. 5
    Objectionable feature of something or someone; problem, drawback, weakness, failing, or shortcoming.
  6. 6
    Violent or turbulent occurrence or event; unrest, disturbance.
  7. 7
    Efforts taken or expended, typically beyond the normal required.
  8. 8
    Difficulty in doing something.
  9. 9
    Health problems, ailment, generally of some particular part of the body.
  10. 10
    A malfunction.
  11. 11
    Liability to punishment; conflict with authority.
  12. 12
    A fault or interruption in a stratum.
  13. 13
    Wife. Clipping of trouble and strife.
  14. 14
    An unplanned, unwanted or undesired pregnancy.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He was in trouble when the rain started.
  2. The trouble was a leaking brake line.

Etymology

Verb is from Middle English troublen, trouble, borrowed from Old French troubler, trobler, trubler, metathetic variants of tourbler, torbler, turbler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Latin turbula (“disorderly group, a little crowd or people”), diminutive of turba (“stir; crowd”). The noun is from Middle English trouble, troble, from Old French troble, from the verb.

This word in other languages

problema(Español)peine(Français)Ärger(Deutsch)problema(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rtouble
  • toruble
  • trobule
  • troubble
  • troubel
  • troublle
  • troulbe
  • trrouble
  • truoble
  • ttrouble

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of trouble - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

rtouble2toruble2trobule2troubble1troubel2troublle1troulbe2trrouble1
Edit distance from "trouble"

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 "trouble"?
"trouble" is spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈtɹʌb.əl/.
What does "trouble" mean?
As a noun, "trouble" means: A distressing or dangerous situation.
What words are commonly confused with "trouble"?
"trouble" is commonly confused with "troupe", "Troubles", "troubled". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "trouble"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "trouble" is /ˈtɹʌb.əl/. 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 "trouble"?
Verb is from Middle English troublen, trouble, borrowed from Old French troubler, trobler, trubler, metathetic variants of tourbler, torbler, turbler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Latin turbula (“disorderly group, a little crowd or people”), d... 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 "trouble", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Richard#1,703removed#1,702prevent#1,701dollars#1,717

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

improve10 variantseastern10 variantsChrist10 variantsproduce10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list