earful
/ˈɪəfəl/noun
earful is spelled E-A-R-F-U-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 66,686th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, earful means “an angry reprimand, castigation or telling off” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of earful is earfuls or earsful.
How many letters and syllables are in earful?
| Letters | 6: E-A-R-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 66,686th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is earful?
Earful appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 66,686th 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 earful?
- UK /ˈɪəfəl/
- UK /-fʊl/
- British /ˈɪːfəl/
Earful 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-earful.wav, LL-Q7976_(mis)-BFDICream-earful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with earful?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as earful from its last stressed vowel (/ɪəfəl/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ferula.
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 earful
- earfuls plural
- earsful plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does earful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalan angry reprimand, castigation or telling off
give someone an earful
- 2
informalintimate gossip
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Earful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense castigation:
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 earful come from?
From ear + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).