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PlainSpell

fall

UK /fɔːl/verb, noun, interjection

fall is spelled F-A-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 135 times per million words in written English, the 770th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Fall, the name). As a verb, fall means “To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in fall?

Letters4: F-A-L-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing135 times per million words; the 770th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is fall?

Fall appears 135 times per million words in written English, the 770th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Fall, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce fall?

  • UK /fɔːl/
  • British /foːl/
  • /fɔl/

Fall 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-fall.ogg, En-au-fall.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with fall

Also written: fal.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with fall?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fall from its last stressed vowel (/ɔl/, 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 fall

  • falls present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • falling participle, present
  • fell past
  • fallen participle, past

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

What does fall mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

    Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.

  2. 2

    To come down, to drop or descend.

    The rain fell at dawn.

  3. 3

    To come as if by dropping down.

    Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N […] dark clouds closing in over everything. At 3 in the afternoon the breeze came up from the S with a thick drizzle. Thus night fell, and thus we passed the rest of it.

  4. 4

    To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.

    He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.

  5. 5

    To be brought to the ground.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo let fall; to drop.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo sink; to depress.

    to fall the voice

  8. 8

    UKUSarchaicTo fell; to cut down.

    to fall a tree

noun

  1. 1

    The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

    the fall of the snow

  2. 2

    A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.

  3. 3

    CanadaUSarchaicThe time of the year when the leaves typically fall from the trees; autumn; the season of the year between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

  4. 4

    A waterfall.

  5. 5

    A loss of greatness or status.

    the fall of Rome

  6. 6

    That which falls or cascades.

  7. 7

    The height of that which falls or cascades.

  8. 8

    The action of a batsman being out.

  9. 9

    The chasing of a hunted whale.

interjection

  1. 1

    The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.

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

Fall in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtomber, chuter, choir (move to a lower position under the effect of…), descendre (come down or descend – see also descend), être renversé (be brought to earth or be overthrown), chute (act of moving in gas or vacuum under the effect…)
Germanfallen, gheie (move to a lower position under the effect of…), Fall, Absturz (act of moving in gas or vacuum under the effect…), Niedergang (a period of decline before the end – see also…), Untergang (loss of greatness or status)
Portuguesecair (move to a lower position under the effect of…), tombar (be brought to earth or be overthrown), queda (act of moving in gas or vacuum under the effect…), decadência (a period of decline before the end – see also…)
Spanishcaer, caerse (move to a lower position under the effect of…), caída, matada (act of moving in gas or vacuum under the effect…), recaer en/sobre (be allotted to – see also up to)

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 fall come from?

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to collapse, fall; to destroy”).

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

What to look up after fall