Semi-annual or semiannual?
semi-annual is an adjective meaning “Alternative spelling of semiannual”; semiannual is an adjective meaning “Biannual: occurring twice a year”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. semi-annual is written with a hyphen and semiannual as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between semi-annual and semiannual?
| semi-annual | semiannual | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative spelling of semiannual | Biannual: occurring twice a year Something occurring twice each year |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 8 million words |
Sources: semi-annual and semiannual 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 semi-annual and semiannual
semi-annual
- 1
Alternative spelling of semiannual
semiannual
- 1
Biannual: occurring twice a year
- 2
Something occurring twice each year
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, semi-annual or semiannual?
semi-annual is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; semiannual about once in every 8 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 semi-annual vs semiannual?
“semi-annual vs semiannual” is searched about 50 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“semiannual vs semi-annual”, “semi-annual or semiannual”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.