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PlainSpell

equalize

/ˈikwəˌlaɪz/verb

equalize is spelled E-Q-U-A-L-I-Z-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, equalize means “To make equal; to cause to correspond in amount or degree” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in equalize?

Letters8: E-Q-U-A-L-I-Z-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 48,775th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is equalize?

Equalize appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th 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 equalize?

  • UK /ˈiːkwəlaɪz/
  • US /ˈikwəˌlaɪz/

Equalize has 3 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-equalize.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of equalize

  • equalizes present, singular, he/she/it
  • equalizing participle, present
  • equalized participle, past
  • equalise
  • æqualize

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

What does equalize mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To make equal; to cause to correspond in amount or degree.

    to equalize accounts, burdens, or taxes

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo be equal to; to equal, to rival.

  3. 3

    To make the scoreline equal by scoring points.

  4. 4

    To clear the ears to balance the pressure in the middle ear with the outside pressure by letting air enter along the Eustachian tubes.

  5. 5

    to precompose with each of a parallel pair of morphisms so as to yield the same composite morphism.

  6. 6

    To adjust the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal.

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

Equalize in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchégaliser (to make equal)
Germanausgleichen (to make equal), den Druck im Ohr ausgleichen (to clear the ears)
Portugueseigualar (to make equal)
Spanishigualar (to make equal), empatar (to make the score equal)

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 equalize come from?

From equal + -ize.

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

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