Master or masters?
masters is the plural of master. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) master is about 3.8 times as common as masters.
What is the difference between master and masters?
| master | masters | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, verb | noun, adjective, verb |
| Meaning | Someone who has control over something or someone The owner of an animal or slave A vessel having a specified number of masts Prepended to a boy's name or surname as a (now somewhat formal) form of address | plural of master CanadaUSOf or pertaining to a league or competition limited to players above a certain age or level of experience A master's degree A person holding a master's degree, as a title |
| Example | Mark Twain was a master of fiction | masters meet |
| Forms | masters | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmɑːstə/ /ˈmastə/ /ˈmastəɾ/ | /ˈmɑːs.təz/ /ˈmæs.tɚz/ |
| In writing | 85 times per million words | 22 times per million words |
Sources: master and masters in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of master and masters
master
- 1
Someone who has control over something or someone
- 2
Masterful
a master performance
- 3
To be a master
- 4
A vessel having a specified number of masts
a two-master
- 5
Prepended to a boy's name or surname as a (now somewhat formal) form of address
- 6
The owner of an animal or slave
- 7
Main, principal or predominant
- 8
To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue
masters
- 1
Ellipsis of master's degree
- 2
CanadaUSOf or pertaining to a league or competition limited to players above a certain age or level of experience
masters meet
- 3
A master's degree
- 4
A person holding a master's degree, as a title
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, master or masters?
master appears 85 times per million words; masters 22 times per million words.
master 85 times per million wordsmasters 22 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search master vs masters?
“master vs masters” is searched about 10 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.