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PlainSpell

challenge

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒ/noun, verb

challenge is spelled C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E. The wrong spelling people search most is challange: about 400 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Challenge is a noun meaning “An antagonization or instigation intended to convince a person to perform an action they otherwise would not”. The plural of challenge is challenges.

How many letters and syllables are in challenge?

Letters9: C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing76 times per million words; the 1,394th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched3; the most searched, challange, about 400 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 challenge?

Challenge is spelled C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 13 of the searches for challenge in either form.

challengethe right spelling6,440 searches a month
challangea in place of e400 searches a month
chalengea missing l70 searches a month
challegea missing n50 searches a month

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 challenge?

Challenge appears 76 times per million words in written English, the 1,394th 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 challenge?

  • /ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒ/
  • /ˈt͡ʃæl.ənd͡ʒ/

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

Forms of challenge

  • challenges plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • challenging participle, present
  • challenged participle, past

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

What does challenge mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An antagonization or instigation intended to convince a person to perform an action they otherwise would not.

  2. 2

    A bid to overcome something.

    a challenge to the king's authority

  3. 3

    An attempt to take possession; a tackle.

  4. 4

    A summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons.

  5. 5

    The act of a sentry in halting a person and demanding the countersign, or (by extension) the action of a computer system demanding a password, etc.

  6. 6

    An attempt to have a work of literature restricted or removed from a public library or school curriculum.

  7. 7

    A difficult task, especially one that the person making the attempt finds more enjoyable because of that difficulty.

  8. 8

    The act of appealing a ruling or decision of a court of administrative agency.

verb

  1. 1

    To invite (someone) to take part in a competition.

    We challenged the boys next door to a game of football.

  2. 2

    To dare (someone).

  3. 3

    To dispute (something); to contest.

    to challenge the accuracy of a statement or of a quotation

  4. 4

    To call something into question or dispute.

    New information challenged old hypotheses.

  5. 5

    To make a formal objection to a juror.

  6. 6

    To be difficult or challenging for.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo claim as due; to demand as a right.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo censure; to blame.

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

Challenge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdéfi, chalenge, challenge (that which encourages someone to do something…), épreuve (difficult task), défier, challenger (to invite someone to take part in a competition)
GermanHerausforderung (that which encourages someone to do something…), (schwierige) Aufgabe (difficult task), herausfordern (to invite someone to take part in a competition)
Portuguesedesafio, incentivo (that which encourages someone to do something…), desafiar (to invite someone to take part in a competition), disputar (to dispute something)
Spanishreto (that which encourages someone to do something…), trastorno (difficult task), retar (to invite someone to take part in a competition), recurso, impugnación, reclamación (the act of appealing a ruling or decision)

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 challenge come from?

From Middle English chalenge, variant with palatalization of Middle English kalange (“an accusation, claim”), from Old French chalenge, chalonge, palatalized Central French variants of Old Northern French calenge, calonge (see Continental Norman calengier), from Latin calumnia (“a false accusation, calumny”).

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

What to look up after challenge