Skip to main content
PlainSpell

cast

/kæst/verb, noun, adjective

cast is spelled C-A-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 62 times per million words in written English, the 1,696th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “cast vs caste” about 70 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, cast means “To move, or be moved, away” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cast?

Letters4: C-A-S-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing62 times per million words; the 1,696th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
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); 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 common is cast?

Cast appears 62 times per million words in written English, the 1,696th 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 cast?

  • UK /kɑːst/
  • /kast/
  • US /kæst/

Cast 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-cast.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with cast

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

cast vs caste70 G

Sounds like: caste, karst (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with cast?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cast from its last stressed vowel (/æst/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: cats, scat.

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 cast

  • casts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • casting participle, present

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

What does cast mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To move, or be moved, away.

  2. 2

    To throw.

  3. 3

    To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea.

  4. 4

    To throw down or aside.

  5. 5

    To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.

  6. 6

    To shed leaves or fruit prematurely.

  7. 7

    To remove, take off (clothes).

  8. 8

    To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.

noun

  1. 1

    An act of throwing.

  2. 2

    The number rolled on a die when it is thrown.

  3. 3

    An instance of throwing out a fishing line.

  4. 4

    Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.

  5. 5

    A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.

    The area near the stream was covered with little bubbly worm casts.

  6. 6

    The collective group of actors performing a play or production together.

    He’s in the cast of Oliver.

  7. 7

    The casting procedure.

    The men got into position for the cast, two at the ladle, two with long rods, all with heavy clothing.

  8. 8

    An object made in a mould.

    The cast would need a great deal of machining to become a recognizable finished part.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of an animal, such as a horse or sheep: Lying in a position from which it cannot rise on its own.

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

Cast in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchjeter (to throw forcefully), diriger (to direct one's eyes), lancer (to throw a fishing line or net into the water), additionner, sommer (to add up a column of figures), jet (act of throwing)
Germanwerfen (to throw forcefully), wegwerfen, hinwerfen (to throw down or aside), gießen (to make by pouring into a mould), Cast, Besetzung (group of actors performing together)
Portuguesearremessar, tacar (to throw forcefully), lançar (to throw a fishing line or net into the water), moldar (to make by pouring into a mould), elenco (group of actors performing together), escalar (to assign a role in a play or performance)
Spanishmoldear (to make by pouring into a mould), escriturar (to assign a role in a play or performance), lanzar, hechizar, conjurar (to perform, bring forth a magical spell or…), castear (computing: to change the type of a variable)

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 cast come from?

From Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta (“to throw, cast, overturn”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), of unknown origin.

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

What to look up after cast