flexible
/ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/adjective, noun
flexible is spelled F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E. The wrong spelling people search most is flexable: about 310 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Flexible is an adjective meaning “Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking”.
How many letters and syllables are in flexible?
| Letters | 8: F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,778th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, flexable, about 310 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell flexible?
Flexible is spelled F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for flexible in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is flexible?
Flexible appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th 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 flexible?
- US /ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/
- US /ˈflɛk.sə.bəl/
- Australia /ˈflek.sɪ.bəl/
Flexible 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: En-us-flexible.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-flexible.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-flexible.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of flexible
- more flexible comparative
- most flexible superlative
- flexibles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flexible mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking.
- 2
Willing or prone to give way to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate.
- 3
Capable of adapting or changing to suit new or modified conditions or situations.
You can't always get what you want: you need to learn to be flexible.
- 4
Capable or being adapted or molded in some way.
a flexible language
noun
- 1
Something that is flexible.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate flexible?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of flexible: flexi.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flexible in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | flexible , maléable |
| German | biegsam, flexibel, elastisch, dehnbar , fügsam |
| Portuguese | flexível |
| Spanish | flexible, doblegable |
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 flexible come from?
From Middle French flexible, from Latin flexibilis, from flectō (“to bend, curve”). Morphologically flex + -ible.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).