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PlainSpell

bike

/baɪk/noun, verb

bike is spelled B-I-K-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 34 times per million words in written English, the 2,831st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bike means “Clipping of bicycle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bike is bikes.

How many letters and syllables are in bike?

Letters4: B-I-K-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing34 times per million words; the 2,831st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bike?

Bike appears 34 times per million words in written English, the 2,831st 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 bike?

  • /baɪk/
  • Canada /bɐɪk/
  • Australia /bɑɪ̯k/

Bike has one syllable (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-bike.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bike?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bike.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: kibe.

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 bike

  • bikes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • biking participle, present
  • biked participle, past
  • byke

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

What does bike mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Clipping of bicycle.

  2. 2

    Clipping of motorbike.

  3. 3

    Any vehicle sharing some characteristics with a bicycle or motorbike, such as pedal power, a handlebar, or a saddle.

  4. 4

    derogatoryslangEllipsis of village bike.

  5. 5

    ScotlandinformalA hive of bees, or a nest of wasps, hornets, or ants.

  6. 6

    ScotlandinformalA crowd of people.

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo ride a bike.

    I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.

  2. 2

    informalTo travel by bike.

    It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car.

  3. 3

    informalTo transport by bicycle.

    I biked them the letters.

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

Bike in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvélo (bicycle), moto (motorcycle), pute, traînée (promiscuous woman), faire du vélo, biker (to ride a bike)
GermanFahrrad, Rad, Velo, Drahtesel (bicycle), Motorrad, Moped (motorcycle)
Portuguesebici, bicicleta, bicla (bicycle), mota, moto (motorcycle), puta (promiscuous woman)
Spanishbici (bicycle), moto (motorcycle)

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 bike come from?

Clipping of bicycle. First attested in 1882. One explanation for the form with /k/ is that bicycle was parsed to bi(cy)c(le).

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

What to look up after bike