Skip to main content
PlainSpell

benefit

/ˈbɛn.ɪˌfɪt/noun, verb

benefit is spelled B-E-N-E-F-I-T. The wrong spelling people search most is benifit: about 690 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 15 of all searches for the word. Benefit is a noun meaning “An advantage; help or aid from something”. The plural of benefit is benefits.

How many letters and syllables are in benefit?

Letters7: B-E-N-E-F-I-T
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing66 times per million words; the 1,602nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, benifit, about 690 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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 benefit?

Benefit is spelled B-E-N-E-F-I-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 15 of the searches for benefit in either form.

benefitthe right spelling9,610 searches a month
benifiti in place of e690 searches a month

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 benefit?

Benefit appears 66 times per million words in written English, the 1,602nd 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 benefit?

  • UK /ˈbɛn.ɪ.fɪt/
  • US /ˈbɛn.ɪˌfɪt/
  • US /ˈbɛn.əˌfɪt/

Benefit has 3 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-benefit.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of benefit

  • benefits plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • benefiting participle, present
  • benefitting participle, present
  • benefited participle, past
  • benefitted participle, past

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

What does benefit mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An advantage; help or aid from something.

    She can't read, so the voice recording was made for her benefit.

  2. 2

    A payment made in accordance with an insurance policy or a public assistance scheme.

  3. 3

    An event, such as a theatrical performance, given to raise funds for some cause.

  4. 4

    obsoletebeneficence; liberality

  5. 5

    Intended audience (as for the benefit of).

    The whole scene was staged for his benefit, and it completely fooled him.

verb

  1. 1

    To be or to provide a benefit to.

  2. 2

    To receive a benefit (from); to be a beneficiary.

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

Benefit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchavantage, bénéfice (advantage, help or aid), subvention (payment, subsidy), profiter à (to be or provide a benefit to), profiter (to receive a benefit)
GermanVorteil, Nutzen (advantage, help or aid), Leistung (payment, subsidy), von Vorteil sein (to be or provide a benefit to), Wohltätigkeitsveranstaltung, Benefizveranstaltung (performance given to raise funds)
Portuguesebenefício (advantage, help or aid), pagamento, subsídio (payment, subsidy), beneficiar (to be or provide a benefit to), beneficente, evento beneficente (performance given to raise funds)
Spanishbeneficio, ventaja, bienfecho (desus.), baza (advantage, help or aid), prestación (payment, subsidy), beneficiar (to be or provide a benefit to)

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 benefit come from?

From Late Middle English benefytt, benefett, alteration (due to Latin bene-) of benfet, bienfet, bienfait (“good or noble deed”), from Anglo-Norman benfet (“well-done”), Middle French bienfait, from Old French bienfet, bienfait (“foredeal, favour”), from past participle of bienfaire (“to do good, do well”), from bien (“well”) + faire (“to do”), modelled after Latin benefactum (“good deed”). More at benefactor.

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

What to look up after benefit