across
a·cross/əˈkɹɒs/preposition, adverb, noun
across is spelled A-C-R-O-S-S, 2 syllables: a·cross. The wrong spelling people search most is accross: about 520 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Across is a preposition meaning “To, toward, or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest)”.
How many letters and syllables are in across?
| Letters | 6: A-C-R-O-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: a·cross |
| In writing | 178 times per million words; the 565th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, accross, about 520 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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 across?
Across is spelled A-C-R-O-S-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for across 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 across?
Across appears 178 times per million words in written English, the 565th 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 across?
- UK /əˈkɹɒs/
- British /əˈkɹɔs/
- /əˈkɹɔs/
Across has 2 syllables, split a·cross in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-across.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with across?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as across from its last stressed vowel (/ɒs/, British pronunciation):
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 across
- acrosses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does across mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
preposition
- 1
To, toward, or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
We rowed across the river.
- 2
On the opposite side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
That store is across the street.
- 3
across from: on the opposite side, relative to something that lies between, from (a point of interest).
And make sure you're parked across the mall in the outside lot. […] Last time I was there, I parked in a parking structure and paid an arm and a leg for it.
- 4
From one side to the other within (a space being traversed).
The meteor streaked across the sky.
- 5
At or near the far end of (a space).
- 6
Spanning.
This poetry speaks across the centuries.
- 7
Throughout.
All across the country, voters were communicating their representatives.
- 8
So as to intersect or pass through or over at an angle.
Lay the top stick across the bottom one.
adverb
- 1
From one side to the other.
she helped the blind man across; the river is half a mile across
- 2
On the other side.
If we sail off at noon, when will we be across?
- 3
In a particular direction.
He leaned across for a book.
- 4
Horizontally.
I got stuck on 4 across.
noun
- 1
A word that runs horizontally in the completed puzzle grid or its associated clue.
I solved all of the acrosses, but then got stuck on 3 down.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Across in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | über , gegenüber , quer |
| Portuguese | através , do outro lado de , perpendicularmente , em horizontal |
| Spanish | a través de, cruzando , al otro lado de , atravesado , a través, de través |
| French | à travers |
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 across come from?
From Middle English acros, from early Middle English a-croiz, a-creoyz, from Anglo-Norman an (“in, on”) + croiz (“in the form of a cross”). More at cross. By surface analysis, a- + cross.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).