believe
be·lieve/bɪˈliv/verb
believe is spelled B-E-L-I-E-V-E, 2 syllables: be·lieve. The wrong spelling people search most is beleive: about 830 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 13 of all searches for the word. Believe is a verb meaning “To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing)”.
How many letters and syllables are in believe?
| Letters | 7: B-E-L-I-E-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: be·lieve |
| In writing | 324 times per million words; the 289th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, beleive, about 830 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 do you spell believe?
Believe is spelled B-E-L-I-E-V-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for believe 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 believe?
Believe appears 324 times per million words in written English, the 289th 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 believe?
- UK /bɪˈliːv/
- US /bɪˈliv/
- US /bi-/
Believe has 2 syllables, split be·lieve in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-believe.ogg, En-us-believe_in.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with believe
Sounds like: beleave (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with believe?
10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as believe from its last stressed vowel (/iv/):
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 believe
- believes present, singular, he/she/it
- believing participle, present
- believed participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does believe mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
If you believe the numbers, you'll agree we need change.
- 2
To accept that someone is telling the truth.
Why did I ever believe you?
- 3
To have been convinced by rational means to accept the truth of a proposition.
- 4
To have been influenced by arational means (such as emotional experience, the imagination of need, etc.) to accept the truth of a proposition.
- 5
To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
After that night in the church, I believed.
- 6
To opine, think, reckon.
Do you think this is good? –Hmm, I believe it's okay.
- 7
To ascribe existence to.
Do you believe in God / the Easter Bunny / ghosts?
- 8
To believe that (something) is right or desirable.
I don't believe in sex before marriage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Believe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | croire , penser , croire à |
| German | glauben , denken , glauben an |
| Portuguese | acreditar, crer , confiar |
| Spanish | creer , tener fe |
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.