tub
/tʌb/
"tub" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tub” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,998 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,998
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A flat-bottomed vessel, of width similar to or greater than its height, used for storing or packing things, or for washing things in.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tub |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tʌb/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #8,998 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tub” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tub is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tʌb/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,998 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for tub, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TV", "TX", "Ty", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tubbe, tobbe, from Middle Dutch tubbe or Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe, further etymology unknown. Considered to be unrelated to tube. The correct English form is tub, spelled T-U-B.
Definition
- 1A flat-bottomed vessel, of width similar to or greater than its height, used for storing or packing things, or for washing things in.
- 2The contents or capacity of such a vessel.
- 3A bathtub.
- 4A slow-moving craft.
- 5Any structure shaped like a tub, such as a certain old form of pulpit, a short broad boat, etc.
- 6A small cask.
- 7Any of various historically designated quantities of goods to be sold by the tub (butter, oysters, etc).
- 8A box or bucket in which coal or ore is sent up a shaft.
- 9A sweating in a tub; a tub fast.
- 10A corpulent or obese person.
- 11The bare body shell of an automobile (minus the doors, hood, trunk lid, fenders, etc.) which is lowered onto the chassis at the time of assembly, or in the case of modern unibody designed vehicles, is itself a monocoque around which the rest of the vehicle is built.
Etymology
From Middle English tubbe, tobbe, from Middle Dutch tubbe or Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe, further etymology unknown. Considered to be unrelated to tube.
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
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Using “tub”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-U-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tʌb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “TV” - see the side-by-side comparison. tub vs TV
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.