Skip to main content
PlainSpell

goal

UK /ɡəʊl/noun, verb

goal is spelled G-O-A-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 115 times per million words in written English, the 932nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, goal means “A result that one is attempting to achieve” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of goal is goals.

How many letters and syllables are in goal?

Letters4: G-O-A-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing115 times per million words; the 932nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is goal?

Goal appears 115 times per million words in written English, the 932nd 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 goal?

  • UK /ɡəʊl/
  • UK [ɡɒʊɫ]
  • /ɡɒl/

Goal 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-goal.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Grendelkhan-goal.wav, En-us-goal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with goal?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as goal from its last stressed vowel (/əʊl/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gaol, algo.

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 goal

  • goals plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • goaling participle, present
  • goaled participle, past

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

What does goal mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A result that one is attempting to achieve.

    My lifelong goal is to get into a Hollywood movie.

  2. 2

    In many sports, an area into which the players attempt to put an object.

    The racers are approaching the goal.

  3. 3

    The act of placing the object into the goal.

    miss a goal

  4. 4

    A point scored in a game as a result of placing the object into the goal.

    score a goal

  5. 5

    A noun or noun phrase that receives the action of a verb.

  6. 6

    The subject of a passive verb or the direct object of an active verb.

verb

  1. 1

    To score a goal.

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

Goal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchobjectif, but (result one is attempting to achieve), but (marqué) (point(s) scored), marquer un but (to score a goal)
GermanZiel (result one is attempting to achieve), ein Tor schießen (to score a goal), Tor (in many sports, an area into which the players…)
Portuguesemeta, objetivo (result one is attempting to achieve), gol, baliza (in many sports, an area into which the players…), golo ((sport) act of placing the object into the goal)
Spanishmeta (result one is attempting to achieve), portería, arco, puerta (in many sports, an area into which the players…), gol ((sport) act of placing the object into the goal)

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 goal come from?

From Middle English gol (“boundary, limit”), from Old English *gāl (“obstacle, barrier, marker”), from Proto-West Germanic *gailu, from Proto-Germanic *gailō (“crevice, gap”); compare the Old English's derivatives Old English gǣlan (“to hinder, delay”), and hyġegǣls (“hesitating, slow, sluggish”), hyġegǣlsa (“slow one, sluggish one”). Possibly cognate with Lithuanian gãlas (“end”), Latvian gals (“end”), Old Prussian gallan (“death”), Albanian ngalem (“to be limping, lame, paralyzed”), ngel (“to remain, linger, hesitate, get stuck”).

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

What to look up after goal