fife
/ˈfaɪf/noun, verb, number
fife is spelled F-I-F-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fife means “A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fife is fifes.
How many letters and syllables are in fife?
| Letters | 4: F-I-F-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 fife?
Fife appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th 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 fife?
- /ˈfaɪf/
Fife 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fife.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with fife?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as fife.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: fief.
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 fife
- fifes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- fifing participle, present
- fifed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fife mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music
verb
- 1
To play this instrument.
number
- 1
Used instead of five in radio communications, especially NATO and ICAO, to avoid confusion with fire or nine.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fife in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense small shrill pipe:
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 fife come from?
From German Pfeife (“whistle, smoking pipe”). Doublet of pipe.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).