call
/kɔːl/verb, noun
call is spelled C-A-L-L. The wrong spelling people search most is calll: about 120 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 263 of all searches for the word. Call is a verb meaning “To request, summon, or beckon”.
How many letters and syllables are in call?
| Letters | 4: C-A-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 324 times per million words; the 289th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, calll, about 120 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell call?
Call is spelled C-A-L-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 262 of the searches for call 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 call?
Call 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 call?
- UK /kɔːl/
- UK [kʰoɫ]
- British /koːl/
Call 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-uk-to_call.ogg, En-us-call.ogg, En-au-call.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with call?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as call from its last stressed vowel (/ɔl/, British pronunciation):
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 call
- calls present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- calling participle, present
- called 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 call mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To request, summon, or beckon.
That person is hurt; call for help!
- 2
To cry or shout.
"Supper's ready," called Dad from the kitchen.
- 3
To utter in a loud or distinct voice.
to call the roll of a military company
- 4
To contact by telephone.
Why don’t you call me in the morning?
- 5
To rouse from sleep; to awaken.
- 6
To request that one's band play (a particular tune).
- 7
To scold.
- 8
To pay a (social) visit (often used with "on", "round", or "at"; used by salespeople with "again" to invite customers to come again).
We could always call on a friend.
noun
- 1
A cry or shout.
He heard a call from the other side of the room.
- 2
The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
That sound is the distinctive call of the cuckoo bird.
- 3
A beckoning or summoning.
I had to yield to the call of the wild.
- 4
A telephone conversation; a phone call.
I received several phone calls today.
- 5
An instance of calling someone on the telephone.
I made a call to Jim, but he didn’t answer.
- 6
A short visit, usually for social purposes.
I paid a call to a dear friend of mine.
- 7
A visit by a ship or boat to a port.
The ship made a call at Southampton.
- 8
A decision or judgement.
That was a good call.
noun
- 1
Initialism of computer-assisted language learning.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Call in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | appeler , crier , téléphoner , visiter , appel, cri |
| German | rufen, anrufen, herbeirufen , antelefonieren , Ruf, Rufen |
| Portuguese | chamar , gritar , telefonar, ligar , visitar , chamada |
| Spanish | llamar , gritar, clamar , telefonear, timbrar , grito |
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 call come from?
From Middle English callen, from Old English ċeallian (“to call, shout”) and Old Norse kalla (“to call; shout; refer to as; name”); both from Proto-Germanic *kalzōną (“to call, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *golH-so- (“voice, cry”), from *gel(H)- (“to vocalize, call, shout”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).