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PlainSpell

earn

/ɝn/verb, noun

earn is spelled E-A-R-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, earn means “To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in earn?

Letters4: E-A-R-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing30 times per million words; the 3,114th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
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 earn?

Earn appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th 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 earn?

  • UK /ɜːn/
  • US /ɝn/
  • /ɛːrn/

Earn has one syllable (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-earn.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with earn

Sounds like: ern, erne, urn (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: erne.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with earn?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as earn from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: near, nare, rean.

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 earn

  • earns present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • earning participle, present
  • earned participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • earnt UK, 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 earn mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.

    You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well.

  2. 2

    To receive payment for work or for a role or position held (regardless of whether effort was applied or whether the remuneration is deserved or commensurate).

    He earns seven million dollars a year as CEO.  My bank account is only earning one percent interest.

  3. 3

    To receive payment for work.

    Now that you are earning, you can start paying me rent.

  4. 4

    To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.

    My CD earns me six percent!

  5. 5

    To achieve by being worthy of.

    to earn a spot in the top 20

  6. 6

    UKarchaicTo curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process.

  7. 7

    UKobsoleteOf milk: to curdle, especially in the cheesemaking process.

  8. 8

    UKobsoleteTo strongly long or yearn (for something or to do something).

  9. 9

    UKobsoleteTo grieve.

noun

  1. 1

    UKAlternative form of erne

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

Earn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Spanishganar, granjear, conciliar (gain through applied effort or work), devengar (transitive: receive (money) for working)
Frenchgagner (transitive: receive (money) for working), mériter (deserve)
Germanverdienen (transitive: receive (money) for working)
Portugueseganhar, auferir (transitive: receive (money) for working), merecer (deserve), receber (intransitive: receive money for working)

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 earn come from?

From Middle English ernen, from Old English earnian, from Proto-West Germanic *aʀanōn, from Proto-Germanic *azanōną. This verb is denominal from the noun *azaniz (“harvest”).

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

What to look up after earn