acknowledge
ac·knowl·edge/əkˈnɒl.ɪd͡ʒ/verb
acknowledge is spelled A-C-K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E, 3 syllables: ac·knowl·edge. The wrong spelling people search most is aknowledge: about 190 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 22 of all searches for the word. Acknowledge is a verb meaning “To admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one's belief in”.
How many letters and syllables are in acknowledge?
| Letters | 11: A-C-K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ac·knowl·edge |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,309th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, aknowledge, about 190 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell acknowledge?
Acknowledge is spelled A-C-K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 14 of the searches for acknowledge 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 acknowledge?
Acknowledge appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th 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 acknowledge?
- UK /əkˈnɒl.ɪd͡ʒ/
- UK [əkˈnɒɫ.ɪd͡ʒ]
- UK [əɡˈnɒɫ.ɪd͡ʒ]
Acknowledge has 3 syllables, split ac·knowl·edge in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-acknowledge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of acknowledge
- acknowledges present, singular, he/she/it
- acknowledging participle, present
- acknowledged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does acknowledge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one's belief in.
to acknowledge the being of a god
- 2
To own or recognize in a particular quality, character or relationship; to admit the claims or authority of; to give recognition to.
- 3
To be grateful of (e.g. a benefit or a favour)
to acknowledge a favor
- 4
To report (the receipt of a message to its sender).
This is to acknowledge your kind invitation to participate in the upcoming debate.
- 5
To own as genuine or valid; to assent to (a legal instrument) to give it validity; to avow or admit in legal form.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Acknowledge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | reconnaître , accuser réception , certifier |
| German | zur Kenntnis nehmen, erkennen, bekennen , den Empfang bestätigen , anerkennen |
| Portuguese | reconhecer , confirmar , admitir |
| Spanish | reconocer , acusar recibo, confirmar que se recibió , acatar |
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 acknowledge come from?
Recorded since 1553, a blend of Middle English aknowen (“to recognize, acknowledge”) and knowlechen (“to discover, reveal, acknowledge”). The former verb is from Old English oncnāwan, ācnāwan (“to know, recognize, acknowledge”), from on + cnāwan (“to know”). The latter is derived from the noun at hand in knowledge. For the formation compare Latin agnōscō and Russian призна́ть (priznátʹ), with cognate roots. The /k/-sound was preserved by being redistributed to the preceding syllable: /əˈkn-/ > /əkˈn-/. The -c- was inserted accordingly to reflect this pronunciation more clearly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).