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PlainSpell

bag

/bæɡ/noun, verb

bag is spelled B-A-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 62 times per million words in written English, the 1,696th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bag means “A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bag is bags.

How many letters and syllables are in bag?

Letters3: B-A-G
Syllables1
In writing62 times per million words; the 1,696th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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 bag?

Bag appears 62 times per million words in written English, the 1,696th 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 bag?

  • US /bæɡ/
  • British /baɡ/
  • British /baːɡ/

Bag has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bag.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_bag.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Justinrleung-bag.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bag

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

bag vs beg0 B

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with bag?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bag from its last stressed vowel (/æɡ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gab.

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 bag

  • bags plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bagging participle, present
  • bagged participle, past

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

What does bag mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods.

  2. 2

    A container made of leather, plastic, or other material, usually with a handle or handles, in which you carry personal items, or clothes or other things that you need for travelling. Includes shopping bags, schoolbags, suitcases, briefcases, handbags, backpacks, etc.

  3. 3

    colloquialOne's preference.

    Acid House is not my bag: I prefer the more traditional styles of music.

  4. 4

    derogatoryAn ugly woman.

  5. 5

    The cloth-covered pillow used for first, second, and third base.

    The grounder hit the bag and bounced over the fielder’s head.

  6. 6

    First, second, or third base.

    He headed back to the bag.

  7. 7

    A breathalyzer, so named because it formerly had a plastic bag over the end to measure a set amount of breath.

  8. 8

    A collection of objects, disregarding order, but (unlike a set) in which elements may be repeated.

    A bag of three apples could be represented symbolically as {a,a,a}. Or, letting 'r' denote 'red apple' and 'g' denote 'green apple', then a bag of three red apples and two green apples could be denoted as {r,r,r,g,g}.

verb

  1. 1

    To put into a bag.

  2. 2

    informalTo catch or kill, especially when fishing or hunting.

    We bagged three deer yesterday.

  3. 3

    To gain possession of something, or to make first claim on something.

  4. 4

    slangTo steal.

  5. 5

    slangTo take a woman away with one as a romantic or sexual interest.

  6. 6

    slangTo arrest.

  7. 7

    To furnish or load with a bag.

  8. 8

    To provide with artificial ventilation via a bag valve mask (BVM) resuscitator.

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

Bag in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsac, poche, cornet (flexible container), sachet (paper (or plastic) container given or sold to…), tasse de thé (preference), ensacher (to put into a bag)
GermanBeutel, Tasche, Sack, Sackerl (flexible container), Tüte (paper (or plastic) container given or sold to…)
Portuguesesacola, saco (flexible container), bolsa (paper (or plastic) container given or sold to…), ensacar (to put into a bag), feia, feiosa (ugly woman)
Spanishbolsa, saco, cartucho, funda, jaba, talego (flexible container)

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 bag come from?

Inherited from Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi (“bag, pack, satchel, bundle”) (whence also Old French bague (“bundle, package, sack”)); related to Old Norse bǫggr (“harm, shame; load, burden”), of uncertain origin.

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

What to look up after bag