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PlainSpell

alliance

/əˈlaɪ.əns/noun

alliance is spelled A-L-L-I-A-N-C-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, alliance means “The state of being allied” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of alliance is alliances.

How many letters and syllables are in alliance?

Letters8: A-L-L-I-A-N-C-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing25 times per million words; the 3,612th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is alliance?

Alliance appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th 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 alliance?

  • US /əˈlaɪ.əns/

Alliance has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-alliance.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with alliance?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as alliance from its last stressed vowel (/aɪəns/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: canaille.

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 alliance

  • alliances plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • alliancing participle, present
  • allianced participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does alliance mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The state of being allied.

  2. 2

    The act of allying or uniting.

  3. 3

    A union or connection of interests between families, states, parties, etc., especially between families by marriage and states by compact, treaty, or league.

    matrimonial alliances

  4. 4

    IndiadatedMarriage.

  5. 5

    Any union resembling that of families or states; union by relationship in qualities; affinity.

  6. 6

    The persons or parties allied.

  7. 7

    datedSynonym of cohort (“group of orders of organisms”).

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo connect or unite by alliance; to ally.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Alliance in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchalliance (state of being allied)
GermanAllianz, Zusammenschluss, Verbund, Bund, Bündnis (state of being allied)
Portuguesealiança (state of being allied), aliados (persons or parties allied)
Spanishalianza (state of being allied)

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 alliance come from?

From Middle English alliaunce, from Old French aliance (French alliance). Equivalent to ally + -ance. Compare with Doric Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”). See also al-.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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