trouble
trou·ble/ˈt͡ʃɹʌbəl/noun, verb
trouble is spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E, 2 syllables: trou·ble. The wrong spelling people search most is trubble: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 143 of all searches for the word. Trouble is a noun meaning “A distressing or dangerous situation”. The plural of trouble is troubles.
How many letters and syllables are in trouble?
| Letters | 7: T-R-O-U-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: trou·ble |
| In writing | 62 times per million words; the 1,696th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, trubble, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell trouble?
Trouble is spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 143 of the searches for trouble in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is trouble?
Trouble appears 62 times per million words in written English, the 1,696th 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 trouble?
- US /ˈt͡ʃɹʌbəl/
- US /ˈtɹʌbəl/
- US [ˈt͡ʃɹɐbɫ̩]
Trouble has 2 syllables, split trou·ble in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-trouble.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with trouble?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as trouble from its last stressed vowel (/ʌbəl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: boulter.
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 trouble
- troubles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- troubling participle, present
- troubled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does trouble mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A distressing or dangerous situation.
He was in trouble when the rain started.
- 2
A difficulty, problem, condition, or action contributing to such a situation.
The trouble was a leaking brake line.
- 3
A person liable to place others or themselves in such a situation.
- 4
The state of being troubled, disturbed, or distressed mentally; unease, disquiet.
- 5
Objectionable feature of something or someone; problem, drawback, weakness, failing, or shortcoming.
Your trouble is that you quit too readily.
- 6
Violent or turbulent occurrence or event; unrest, disturbance.
the troubles in Northern Ireland
- 7
Efforts taken or expended, typically beyond the normal required.
It’s no trouble for me to edit it.
- 8
Difficulty in doing something.
She has trouble eating.
verb
- 1
archaicTo disturb, stir up, agitate (a medium, especially water).
- 2
To mentally distress; to cause (someone) to be anxious or perplexed.
What she said about narcissism is troubling me.
- 3
In weaker sense: to bother or inconvenience.
I will not trouble you to deliver the letter.
- 4
To physically afflict.
My bad knee is troubling me.
- 5
To take pains (to do something); to bother.
I won’t trouble to post the letter today; I can do it tomorrow.
- 6
To worry; to be anxious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Trouble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | peine , mal, problème, emmerde , troubles , troubler |
| German | Ärger , Schwierigkeit , Anstrengung, Bemühung, Mühe , Störung |
| Portuguese | problema, treta, encrenca , dificuldade , incomodar, irritar |
| Spanish | lío, embrollo, candanga, brete, apuro, ajigolón |
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 trouble come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).