dose
/ˈdoʊ̯s/noun, verb
dose is spelled D-O-S-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “dose vs doze” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, dose means “A measured portion of medicine taken at any one time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dose is doses.
How many letters and syllables are in dose?
| Letters | 4: D-O-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,121st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| 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 common is dose?
Dose appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st 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 dose?
- UK /ˈdəʊ̯s/
- UK /ˈdɵ̞ʊ̯s/
- US /ˈdoʊ̯s/
Dose has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-dose.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with dose
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: doze.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with dose?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dose from its last stressed vowel (/oʊs/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: deso.
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 dose
- doses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- dosing participle, present
- dosed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dose mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A measured portion of medicine taken at any one time.
Why did he give you only a single 500 mg dose? The correct dosage of this antibiotic is one 500 mg tablet twice a day for 10 days.
- 2
The quantity of an agent (not always active), substance, or radiation administered or experienced at any one time.
- 3
datedAnything disagreeable that must be taken.
- 4
A good measure or lengthy experience of something.
a healthy dose of skepticism.
- 5
datedA venereal infection.
- 6
IrelandcolloquialA cold; a common, viral illness of the nasal passage, sometimes with fever.
There's a dose going round.
verb
- 1
To administer a dose (of medicine) to.
- 2
To prescribe a dose.
- 3
To surreptitiously administer a dose of an incapacitating drug (to an unwilling subject); to roofie.
- 4
datedTo transmit a venereal disease to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dose in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 dose come from?
Borrowed from Middle French dose, from Late Latin dosis, from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “a portion prescribed”, literally “a giving”), used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount of medicine, from δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Mostly displaced English drench. Doublet of doos.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).