channel
chan·nel/ˈt͡ʃeə̯nəl/noun, verb
channel is spelled C-H-A-N-N-E-L, 2 syllables: chan·nel. The wrong spelling people search most is chanell: about 380 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 24 of all searches for the word. Channel is a noun meaning “The hollow bed of running waters; (also) the bed of the sea or other body of water”. The plural of channel is channels.
How many letters and syllables are in channel?
| Letters | 7: C-H-A-N-N-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: chan·nel |
| In writing | 71 times per million words; the 1,486th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, chanell, about 380 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 channel?
Channel is spelled C-H-A-N-N-E-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 24 of the searches for channel 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 channel?
Channel appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Channel, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce channel?
- /ˈt͡ʃænəl/
- [ˈt͡ʃænəl] ~ [ˈt͡ʃænl̩]
- US /ˈt͡ʃeə̯nəl/
Channel has 2 syllables, split chan·nel in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-channel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with channel
Also written: channelled.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of channel
- channels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- channeling US, participle, present
- channelling UK, participle, present
- channeled US, participle, past
- channelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does channel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The hollow bed of running waters; (also) the bed of the sea or other body of water.
The water coming out of the waterwheel created a standing wave in the channel.
- 2
The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.
A channel was dredged to allow ocean-going vessels to reach the city.
- 3
The navigable part of a river.
We were careful to keep our boat in the channel.
- 4
A narrow body of water between two land masses.
The English Channel lies between France and England.
- 5
Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.
The news was conveyed to us by different channels.
- 6
An ion channel: pore-forming proteins located in a cell membrane that allow specific ions to pass through.
- 7
A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.
- 8
A structural member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.
- 9
The wale of a sailing ship which projects beyond the gunwale and to which the shrouds attach via the chains. One of the flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.
verb
- 1
To make or cut a channel or groove in.
- 2
To direct or guide along a desired course.
We will channel the traffic to the left with these cones.
- 3
To serve as a medium for.
She was channeling the spirit of her late husband, Seth.
- 4
To follow as a model, especially in a performance.
He was trying to channel President Reagan, but the audience wasn't buying it.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate channel?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of channel: ch.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Channel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | canal , estreito , canalizar , imitar |
| Spanish | estrecho , canalizar, encauzar, dirigir , canal, álveo |
| German | Kanal, Straße, Meeresstraße , lenken, leiten , Kannelierung |
| French | canaliser , chaîne |
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 channel come from?
From Middle English chanel (also as canel, cannel, kanel), a borrowing from Old French chanel, canel, from Latin canālis (“groove; canal; channel”). Doublet of canal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).