chapter
chap·ter/ˈt͡ʃæptɚ/noun, verb
chapter is spelled C-H-A-P-T-E-R, 2 syllables: chap·ter. The wrong spelling people search most is chaper: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 135 of all searches for the word. Chapter is a noun meaning “One of the main sections into which a published work is divided, especially a book”. The plural of chapter is chapters.
How many letters and syllables are in chapter?
| Letters | 7: C-H-A-P-T-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: chap·ter |
| In writing | 45 times per million words; the 2,253rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, chaper, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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 chapter?
Chapter is spelled C-H-A-P-T-E-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 135 of the searches for chapter 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 chapter?
Chapter appears 45 times per million words in written English, the 2,253rd 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 chapter?
- UK /ˈt͡ʃæptə(r)/
- US /ˈt͡ʃæptɚ/
Chapter has 2 syllables, split chap·ter in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-chapter.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-chapter.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with chapter?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as chapter from its last stressed vowel (/æptəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: patcher.
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 chapter
- chapters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- chaptering participle, present
- chaptered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does chapter mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One of the main sections into which a published work is divided, especially a book.
Detective novel writers try to keep up the suspense until the last chapter.
- 2
A section of a work, a collection of works, or fragments of works, often manuscripts or transcriptions, created by scholars or advocates, not the original authors, to aid in finding portions of the texts.
- 3
An assembly of monks, prebendaries and/or other clergymen connected with a cathedral, conventual or collegiate church, or of a diocese, usually presided over by the dean.
- 4
A community of canons or canonesses.
- 5
A bishop's council.
- 6
An administrative division of an organization, usually local to a specific area.
- 7
An organized branch of some society or fraternity, such as the Freemasons.
- 8
A meeting of a chapter of certain organized societies or orders.
verb
- 1
To divide into chapters.
- 2
To put into a chapter.
- 3
To use administrative procedure to remove someone.
- 4
To take to task.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate chapter?
Wiktionary records 7 abbreviations of chapter: c., ch, ch., chap, chap., chapt, chpt..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Chapter in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | chapitre , branche, section |
| German | Kapitel, Abschnitt , Verband, Ortsverband, Sektion |
| Portuguese | capítulo , divisão |
| Spanish | capítulo , sede, sección, sucursal |
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 chapter come from?
From Middle English chapitre, from Old French chapitre, from Latin capitulum (“a chapter of a book, in Medieval Latin also a synod or council”), diminutive of caput (“a head”); see capital, capitulum, and chapiter, which are doublets of chapter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).