glance

/ɡlæns/verb, noun

glance is spelled G-L-A-N-C-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, glance means “To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in glance?

Letters	6: G-L-A-N-C-E
Syllables	1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing	8.1 times per million words; the 8,146th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Rhymes with	advance stance enhance lance more

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 glance?

Glance appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th most frequent word form in the list.

glance0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

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

How do you pronounce glance?

UK /ɡlɑːns/
US /ɡlæns/
US [ɡɫeəns]

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

What rhymes with glance?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as glance from its last stressed vowel (/æns/):

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 glance

glances present, singular, he/she/it, plural
glancing participle, present
glanced participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
glaunce

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

What does glance mean?

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

verb

1
To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly.
2
To look briefly at (something).
3
To cause (light) to gleam or sparkle.
4
To cause (something) to move obliquely.
5
To hit (a ball) lightly, causing it to move in another direction.
6
To hit (a ball) with a bat held in a slanted manner; also, to play such a stroke against (the bowler).
7
To communicate (something) using the eyes.
8
obsoleteTo touch (something) lightly or obliquely; to graze.

noun

1
A brief or cursory look.
2
A quick movement that catches light, and causes a flash or glitter; also, the flash or glitter.
3
A stroke in which the ball is hit with a bat held in a slanted manner.
4
Of certain juvenile fish, chiefly of the Cichlidae family: an act of rapidly touching the side of its parent's body, usually to feed on mucus.
5
obsoleteAn act of striking and flying off in an oblique direction; a deflection.
6
obsoleteAn incidental or passing allusion or thought, often unfavourable, expressed on a topic.
7
Ellipsis of glance coal (“any hard, lustrous coal such as anthracite”).
8
Any of various sulphides, mostly dark-coloured, which have a brilliant metallic lustre.
copper glance silver glance