axel
/ˈæk.səl/noun, verb
axel is spelled A-X-E-L: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Axel, the name). People search “axel vs axle” about 1,300 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, axel means “A jump that includes one (or more than one) complete turn and a half turn while in the air” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of axel is axels.
How many letters and syllables are in axel?
| Letters | 4: A-X-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 20,101st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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 axel?
Axel appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Axel, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce axel?
- /ˈæk.səl/
Axel has 2 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)-Persent101-axel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with axel
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: axle (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 axel?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as axel.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: axle.
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 axel
- axels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- axeling participle, present
- axelling participle, present
- axeled participle, past
- axelled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does axel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A jump that includes one (or more than one) complete turn and a half turn while in the air.
verb
- 1
To perform a jump of this kind.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does axel come from?
Named after Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen (1855–1938), who in 1882 became the first to perform the jump.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).