alternative
/ɔlˈtɝ.nə.tɪv/adjective, noun
alternative is spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-I-V-E. The wrong spelling people search most is alternatative: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 435 of all searches for the word. Alternative is an adjective meaning “Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities”.
How many letters and syllables are in alternative?
| Letters | 11: A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 51 times per million words; the 1,993rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, alternatative, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
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); 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 alternative?
Alternative is spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-I-V-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 435 of the searches for alternative 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 alternative?
Alternative appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd 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 alternative?
- UK /ɒlˈtɜː.nə.tɪv/
- /ɔːlˈtɜː.nə.tɪv/
- US /ɔlˈtɝ.nə.tɪv/
Alternative has 4 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: En-us-alternative.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with alternative
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of alternative
- alternatives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does alternative mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities.
an alternative proposition
- 2
Presenting two or more alternatives.
alternative conjunctions like or
- 3
Other; different from something else.
- 4
Not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground.
alternative medicine; alternative lifestyle; alternative rock
- 5
obsoleteAlternate, reciprocal.
noun
- 1
A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities.
I gave you the alternative; you decided to stay.
- 2
One of several mutually exclusive things which can be chosen.
- 3
The remaining option; something available after other possibilities have been exhausted.
- 4
alternative rock
- 5
A non-offensive word or phrase that serves as a replacement for a word deemed offensive or unacceptable, though not as a euphemism.
Disability activists discourage the use of the words "crazy" and "insane" due to their negative connections to mental health, suggesting alternatives such as "wild", "silly", or "out of this world", which do not relate to mental health.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate alternative?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of alternative: Alt., alt, alt..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Alternative in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | alternatif , autre , alternative |
| German | alternativ , Alternative |
| Portuguese | alternativo , alternativa |
| Spanish | alternativo , alternativa |
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.