altar
al·tar/ˈɒl.tə/noun
altar is spelled A-L-T-A-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables (al·tar). It appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “altar vs alter” about 1,000 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, altar means “A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of altar is altars.
How many letters and syllables are in altar?
| Letters | 5: A-L-T-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: al·tar |
| In writing | 6.3 times per million words; the 9,594th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 common is altar?
Altar appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th 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 altar?
- UK /ˈɒl.tə/
- UK /ˈɔːl.tə/
- British /ˈɔl.tə/
Altar has 2 syllables, split al·tar in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-altar.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with altar
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: alter (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with altar?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as altar from its last stressed vowel (/ɒltə/, 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 altar
- altars plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does altar mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
- 2
informalA raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.
- 3
Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Altar in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense flat-topped structure used for religious rites:
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 altar come from?
Inherited from Middle English auter, inherited from Old English altar and borrowed from Old French auter, both derived from Latin altāre, probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Middle English wēved.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).