divide
/dɪˈvaɪd/verb, noun
divide is spelled D-I-V-I-D-E. The wrong spelling people search most is devide: about 200 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Divide is a verb meaning “To split or separate (something) into two or more parts”.
How many letters and syllables are in divide?
| Letters | 6: D-I-V-I-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,878th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, devide, about 200 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); 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 divide?
Divide is spelled D-I-V-I-D-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for divide 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 divide?
Divide appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th 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 divide?
- UK /dɪˈvaɪd/
Divide has 2 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-divide.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with divide
Also written: vide.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with divide?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as divide from its last stressed vowel (/aɪd/, British pronunciation):
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 divide
- divides present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- dividing participle, present
- divided 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 divide mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To split or separate (something) into two or more parts.
a wall divides two houses; a stream divides the towns
- 2
To separate into two or more parts.
- 3
To share (something) by dividing it.
How shall we divide this pie?
- 4
To cause (a group of people) to disagree.
Words divide us; Wiktionary unites us.
- 5
To calculate the quotient number by which another one (the divisor) is multiplied to produce a second number (the dividend).
If you divide 6 by 3, you get 2.
- 6
To be a divisor of.
3 divides 6.
- 7
To reproduce by either mitosis or meiosis.
- 8
To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant or hostile; to set at variance.
noun
- 1
A thing that divides.
Stay on your side of the divide, please.
- 2
An act of dividing.
The divide left most of the good land on my share of the property.
- 3
A distancing between two people or things.
There is a great divide between us.
- 4
A large chasm, gorge, or ravine between two areas of land.
If you're heading to the coast, you'll have to cross the divide first.
- 5
The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate divide?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of divide: div, vide.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Divide in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | diviser, fendre , partager , se diviser , fossé |
| German | aufteilen, teilen, einteilen , dividieren , Trennlinie, Abtrennung |
| Portuguese | dividir, separar , repartir , dividir-se |
| Spanish | desunir, dividir, devisar, cisionar , repartir , división |
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 divide come from?
From Middle English dividen, from Latin dīvidere (“to divide”). Displaced native Old English tōdǣlan related to English deal which formerly meant a “portion” or “part” of something.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).