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PlainSpell

deal

/ˈdiːl/noun, verb, adjective

deal is spelled D-E-A-L. The wrong spelling people search most is dael: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 143 of all searches for the word. Deal is a noun meaning “An indefinite quantity or amount; a lot (now usually qualified by great or good)”. The plural of deal is deals.

How many letters and syllables are in deal?

Letters4: D-E-A-L
Syllables1
In writing209 times per million words; the 483rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, dael, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them)
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 deal?

Deal is spelled D-E-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 142 of the searches for deal in either form.

dealthe right spelling11,310 searches a month
daele and a swapped80 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 deal?

Deal appears 209 times per million words in written English, the 483rd 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 deal?

  • /ˈdiːl/
  • [ˈdɪi̯l]
  • /ˈɖiːl/

Deal has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-deal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with deal?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as deal.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: lead, dale, lade.

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 deal

  • deals plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • dealing participle, present
  • dealt participle, past

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

What does deal mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA division, a portion, a share, a part, a piece.

    We gave three deals of grain in tribute to the king.

  2. 2

    An indefinite quantity or amount; a lot (now usually qualified by great or good).

  3. 3

    archaicAn act of dealing or sharing out.

  4. 4

    The distribution of cards to players; a player's turn for this.

    I didn’t have a good deal all evening.

  5. 5

    A particular instance of trading (buying or selling; exchanging; bartering); a transaction.

    We need to finalise the deal with Henderson by midnight.

  6. 6

    A transaction offered which is financially beneficial; a bargain.

    You also have to look at the kind of mortgage deals available to you and whether you will be able to trade up to the kind of property you are looking for.

  7. 7

    An agreement between parties; an arrangement.

    He made a deal with the devil.

  8. 8

    informalA situation, occasion, or event.

    What's the deal here?

  9. 9

    informalA thing, an unspecified or unidentified object.

    The deal with four tines is called a pitchfork.

  10. 10

    slangA personality trait, especially a negative one, and the underlying cause of it.

    What's her deal?

  11. 11

    Wood that is easy to saw (from conifers such as pine or fir).

  12. 12

    A plank of softwood (fir or pine board).

  13. 13

    archaicA wooden board or plank, usually between 12 or 14 feet in length, traded as a commodity in shipbuilding.

verb

  1. 1

    To distribute among a number of recipients, to give out as one’s portion or share.

    The fighting is over; now we deal out the spoils of victory.

  2. 2

    To administer or give out, as in small portions.

  3. 3

    To take action with regard to someone or something.

  4. 4

    To distribute cards to the players in a game.

    I was dealt four aces.

  5. 5

    deliver damage, a blow, strike or cut. To inflict.

    The boxer was dealt a blow to the head.

  6. 6

    To pitch.

    The whole crowd waited for him to deal a real humdinger.

  7. 7

    To have dealings or business.

  8. 8

    To conduct oneself, to behave.

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of deal.

    A plain deal table

phrase

as DEAL
  1. 1

    Acronym of difficulty, execution, amplitude/altitude(height). landing

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

Deal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpart (division, share), distribuer (to distribute (cards)), agir (to take action; to act), faire le commerce (to trade), charbonner (to sell (illicit drugs)), faire face (à) (to handle, manage)
GermanAnteil, Portion (division, share), Menge (large number or amount or extent), austeilen, verteilen (to give out as one’s portion or share), erteilen (to administer in portions)
Portugueseporção, parte (division, share), dar (to distribute (cards)), dividir, repartir (to give out as one’s portion or share), lidar (to administer in portions)
Spanishreparto, parte (division, share), repartir, distribuir (to give out as one’s portion or share), asignar, asestar (to administer in portions)

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 deal come from?

From Middle English del, dele, from Old English dǣl (“part, share, portion”), from Proto-West Germanic *daili, from Proto-Germanic *dailiz (“part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰ(h₁)-oy-lo- (“part, watershed”). Cognate with Scots dele (“part, portion”), West Frisian diel (“part, share”), Dutch deel (“part, share, portion”), German Teil (“part, portion, section”), Danish, Slovene, and Swedish del (“part”), Icelandic deila (“division, contention”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (dails, “portion”). Related to Old English dāl (“portion”). More at dole.

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

What to look up after deal