careful
/ˈkɛɹfəl/adjective
careful is spelled C-A-R-E-F-U-L. The wrong spelling people search most is carefull: about 440 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 3 in 10 of all searches for the word. Careful is an adjective meaning “Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious”.
How many letters and syllables are in careful?
| Letters | 7: C-A-R-E-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 39 times per million words; the 2,523rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, carefull, about 440 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 careful?
Careful is spelled C-A-R-E-F-U-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 3 in 10 of the searches for careful 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 careful?
Careful appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd 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 careful?
- US /ˈkɛɹfəl/
- US [ˈkɛɹfəɫ]
- US [ˈkɛɹfɫ̩]
Careful has 2 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-careful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of careful
- more careful comparative
- most careful superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does careful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.
He was a slow and careful driver.
- 2
Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.
They made a careful search of the crime scene.
- 3
obsoleteFull of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
- 4
obsoleteFull of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Careful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prudent , soigneux, attentif |
| German | vorsichtig, behutsam , sorgfältig |
| Portuguese | cauteloso, cuidadoso, prudente, tomar cuidado , meticuloso |
| Spanish | cauto, cuidadoso, tener cuidado, precavido , concienzudo |
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 careful come from?
From Middle English careful, from Old English carful; equivalent to care + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).