capable
ca·pa·ble/ˈkeɪ.pə.bəl/adjective
capable is spelled C-A-P-A-B-L-E, 3 syllables: ca·pa·ble. The wrong spelling people search most is capeable: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 34 of all searches for the word. Capable is an adjective meaning “Able and efficient; having the ability needed for a specific task; having the disposition to do something…”.
How many letters and syllables are in capable?
| Letters | 7: C-A-P-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ca·pa·ble |
| In writing | 41 times per million words; the 2,438th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, capeable, about 50 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell capable?
Capable is spelled C-A-P-A-B-L-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 17 of the searches for capable 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 capable?
Capable appears 41 times per million words in written English, the 2,438th 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 capable?
- US /ˈkeɪ.pə.bəl/
- US [ˈkʰeɪ̯.pə.bɫ̩]
- /ˈkeɪ.bə.bəl/
Capable has 3 syllables, split ca·pa·ble in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-capable.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of capable
- more capable comparative
- most capable superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does capable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Able and efficient; having the ability needed for a specific task; having the disposition to do something; permitting or being susceptible to something.
She is capable and efficient.
- 2
obsoleteOf sufficient capacity or size for holding, containing, receiving or taking in; accessible to. Construed with of, for or an infinitive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Capable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense able and efficient:
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 capable come from?
Borrowed from Middle French capable, from Late Latin capābilis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).