beach
/biːt͡ʃ/noun, verb
beach is spelled B-E-A-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “beach vs beech” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, beach means “The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of beach is beaches.
How many letters and syllables are in beach?
| Letters | 5: B-E-A-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 83 times per million words; the 1,272nd 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; 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 beach?
Beach appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd 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 beach?
- /biːt͡ʃ/
- [bɪi̯t͡ʃ]
Beach has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-beach.ogg, En-us-beach.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with beach
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: beech (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 beach?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as beach.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bache.
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 beach
- beaches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- beaching participle, present
- beached participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does beach mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.
- 2
A horizontal strip of land, usually sandy, adjoining water.
- 3
UKThe loose pebbles of the seashore, especially worn by waves; shingle.
- 4
Synonym of gravel trap.
- 5
A dry, dusty pitch or situation, as though playing on sand.
- 6
Euphemistic form of bitch (taboo swear word).
That beach should be punished!
verb
- 1
To run aground on a beach.
- 2
To run (something) aground on a beach.
- 3
To run into an obstacle or rough or soft ground, so that the floor of the vehicle rests on the ground and the wheels cannot gain traction.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Beach in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | plage , échouer |
| German | Strand , stranden |
| Portuguese | praia , abicar, encalhar |
| Spanish | playa, playero , encallar, varar, embarrancar |
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 beach come from?
From Middle English bache, bæcche (“bank, sandbank”), from Old English beċe (“beck, brook, stream”), from Proto-West Germanic *baki, from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“brook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“flowing water”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).