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PlainSpell

confidence

/ˈkɑn.fɪ.dəns/noun

confidence is spelled C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 45 times per million words in written English, the 2,253rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, confidence means “Self-assurance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of confidence is confidences.

How many letters and syllables are in confidence?

Letters10: C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing45 times per million words; the 2,253rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is confidence?

Confidence 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 confidence?

  • UK /ˈkɒn.fɪ.dəns/
  • US /ˈkɑn.fɪ.dəns/
  • Canada /ˈkɒn.fɪ.dəns/

Confidence has 3 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-confidence.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Grendelkhan-confidence.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of confidence

  • confidences plural

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

What does confidence mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Self-assurance.

    He entered the ring with confidence.

  2. 2

    A feeling of certainty; firm trust or belief; faith.

    She had confidence it would soon end.

  3. 3

    Information held in secret; a piece of information shared but to thence be kept in secret.

  4. 4

    datedBoldness; presumption.

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

Confidence in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchassurance, confiance en soi (self-assurance), confiance (quality of trusting), confidence (information held in secret)
GermanSelbstgewissheit, Selbstvergewisserung, Selbstvertrauen, Zuversicht (self-assurance), Vertrauen (quality of trusting)
Portugueseconvicção, confiança, segurança (self-assurance), certeza (expression or feeling of certainty)
Spanishcerteza, certeza propia, autoconfianza (self-assurance), confidencia (quality of trusting), certidumbre (expression or feeling of certainty)

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 confidence come from?

From Middle English confidence, from Latin cōnfīdentia (possibly via Old French confidence), from cōnfīdō (“believe, confide in”) from con- (“with”) + fīdō (“trust”). By surface analysis, confide + ence.

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

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