ferry
/ˈfɛɹi/verb, noun
ferry is spelled F-E-R-R-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, ferry means “To carry; transport; convey” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ferry?
| Letters | 5: F-E-R-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 6,884th 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 and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 ferry?
Ferry appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th 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 ferry?
- US /ˈfɛɹi/
- Australia /ˈfeɹi/
- /ˈfɛɾe/
Ferry 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: En-us-ferry.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ferry
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with ferry?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ferry from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹi/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: fryer.
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 ferry
- ferries present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- ferrying participle, present
- ferried participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ferry mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To carry; transport; convey.
Trucks plowed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.
- 2
To move someone or something from one place to another, usually repeatedly.
Being a good waiter takes more than the ability to ferry plates of food around a restaurant.
- 3
To carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.
- 4
To pass over water in a boat or by ferry.
noun
- 1
A boat or ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.
Near-synonym: ferryboat
- 2
A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
- 3
The service constituted by this watercraft's operation; the business (company) that operates such a service.
In those days there was a ferry at Sleepytown. Modern roads and bridges for motor vehicles have rendered such local river ferries obsolete.
- 4
The legal right or franchise that entitles a corporate body or an individual to operate such a service: a right of ferry.
granted a ferry to
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ferry in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense boat:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bac, ferry, transbordeur |
| German | Fähre |
| Portuguese | balsa |
| Spanish | ferri, transbordador |
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 ferry come from?
The verb is from Middle English ferien (“to carry, convey”), from Old English ferian, from Proto-West Germanic *farjan, from Proto-Germanic *farjaną, which see for cognates. This verb is the causative of Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go, travel”), whence English fare; ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-. The noun is from Middle English ferie (“place of crossing, ferry”), which was derived from the above verb under influence of Old Norse ferja, from Proto-Germanic *farjǭ, itself also from the verb. False cognate of Latin ferō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).