change
/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/verb, noun
change is spelled C-H-A-N-G-E. The wrong spelling people search most is shange: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 476 of all searches for the word. Change is a verb meaning “To become something different”.
How many letters and syllables are in change?
| Letters | 6: C-H-A-N-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 347 times per million words; the 263rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, shange, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell change?
Change is spelled C-H-A-N-G-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 474 of the searches for change 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 change?
Change appears 347 times per million words in written English, the 263rd 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 change?
- US /ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/
- US [ˈt͡ʃʰeɪ̯nd͡ʒ]
- British /ˈt͡ʃɛjnd͡ʒ/
Change has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-change.ogg, En-uk-change.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with change?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as change from its last stressed vowel (/eɪndʒ/):
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 change
- changes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- changing participle, present
- changed 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 change mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To become something different.
The tadpole changed into a frog.
- 2
To make something into something else.
The fairy changed the frog into a prince.
- 3
To replace.
Ask the janitor to come and change the lightbulb.
- 4
To replace one's clothing.
You can't go into the dressing room while she’s changing.
- 5
To replace the clothing of (the one wearing it), especially to put a clean diaper on (someone).
It’s your turn to change the baby.
- 6
To replace the sheets on (a bed) with fresh clean ones.
- 7
To transfer to another vehicle (train, bus, etc.)
- 8
archaicTo exchange.
I would give any thing to change a word or two with this person.
noun
- 1
The process or result of becoming different.
The product is undergoing a change in order to improve it.
- 2
Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination.
Can I get change for this $100 bill, please?
- 3
A replacement.
a change of clothes
- 4
A replacement of a soiled diaper with a clean one; a diaper change.
The baby needs a change
- 5
Balance of money returned from the sum paid after deducting the price of a purchase.
A customer who pays with a 10-pound note for a £9 item receives one pound in change.
- 6
An amount of cash, usually in the form of coins, but sometimes inclusive of paper money.
Do you have any change on you? I need to make a phone call.
- 7
A transfer between vehicles.
The train journey from Bristol to Nottingham includes a change at Birmingham.
- 8
A change-up pitch.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate change?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of change: chg, chge.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Change in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | changer, se transformer, muter , transformer , remplacer , changement |
| German | sich ändern, sich verändern, sich wandeln , ändern, verändern, verwandeln |
| Portuguese | mudar , alterar , trocar , mudança, modificação , trocar-se |
| Spanish | cambiar, demudarse , demudar, mudar, remudar , cambio |
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.