golf
/ɡɑlf/noun, verb
golf is spelled G-O-L-F: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 36 times per million words in written English, the 2,669th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “golf vs gulf” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, golf means “A ball game played by individuals competing against one another in which the object is to hit a ball into each of a series of (usually 18 or nine)…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in golf?
| Letters | 4: G-O-L-F |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 36 times per million words; the 2,669th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is golf?
Golf appears 36 times per million words in written English, the 2,669th 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 golf?
- UK /ɡɒlf/
- UK /ɡɒf/
- US /ɡɑlf/
Golf 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-golf.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with golf
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: goff.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with golf?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as golf (/ɑlf/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: flog.
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 golf
- golfs present, singular, he/she/it
- golfing participle, present
- golfed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does golf mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A ball game played by individuals competing against one another in which the object is to hit a ball into each of a series of (usually 18 or nine) holes in the minimum number of strokes.
- 2
Alternative letter-case form of Golf from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
verb
- 1
To play the game of golf.
- 2
To write something in as few characters as possible (e.g. in code golf, regex golf)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Golf in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 golf come from?
The word is first known in English from the 17th century as a borrowing from Middle Scots golf, gouff. Although the etymology is uncertain, the most likely origin is that it comes from the Middle Dutch colve, colf (“club”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kulbaz (“club”), related to German Kolben (“piston, rod”), Swedish kolv (“piston, rod”), Old English clopp (“rock; cliff”), English kelp.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).