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PlainSpell

give away

verb

give away is spelled G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y: 8 letters. People search “give-away vs giveaway” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, give away means “To make a gift of (something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in give away?

Letters8: G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y
In writinga phrase: the frequency list counts single words
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 pronounce give away?

  • US

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-give_away.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with give away

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

give-away vs giveaway20 G

Also written: giveaway (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of give away

  • gives away present, singular, he/she/it
  • giving away participle, present
  • gave away past
  • given away participle, past

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

What does give away mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To make a gift of (something).

    I didn't like that book, so I gave it away.

  2. 2

    informalTo sell very cheaply.

  3. 3

    To relinquish control over.

  4. 4

    To formally hand over a bride to the bridegroom; often by her father.

    Who giveth away this woman to this man in Holy matrimony?

  5. 5

    To unintentionally reveal a secret or divulge undisclosed information; to betray or expose someone.

    He gave himself away with a stupid lie.

  6. 6

    To concede an advantage in weight, time, height etc.

    Despite giving away twenty pounds in weight, the challenger found a knock-out blow in the second round.

  7. 7

    To concede.

noun

as give-away
  1. 1

    Alternative form of giveaway.

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

Give away in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchoffrir, donner (to make a gift of something), se trahir (to unintentionally reveal a secret, or expose…)
Germanweggeben (to make a gift of something), verraten (to unintentionally reveal a secret, or expose…), überlassen (to relinquish control over), anvertrauen, übergeben (to formally hand over a bride to the bridegroom), verschenken (sports: to concede)
Portuguesedar, dar de presente (to make a gift of something), entregar-se, denunciar (to unintentionally reveal a secret, or expose…), abrir mão (to relinquish control over)
Spanishdelatar (to unintentionally reveal a secret, or expose…)

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 give away come from?

Deverbal from give away.

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

What to look up after give away