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PlainSpell

grip

/ˈɡɹɪp/verb, noun

grip is spelled G-R-I-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,957th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “grip vs gripe” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, grip means “To take hold (of), particularly with the hand” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in grip?

Letters4: G-R-I-P
Syllables1
In writing13 times per million words; the 5,957th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is grip?

Grip appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,957th 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 grip?

  • /ˈɡɹɪp/
  • [ˈɡɹʷɪp]

Grip has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-grip.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with grip

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

grip vs gripe20 G

Also written: gripe.

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

What rhymes with grip?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as grip.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: prig.

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 grip

  • grips present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • gripping participle, present
  • gripped participle, past
  • gripe

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

What does grip mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To take hold (of), particularly with the hand.

    That suitcase is heavy, so grip the handle firmly.

  2. 2

    To figuratively take hold of or grasp.

    We need to grip this problem, not shut our eyes and hope it goes away.

  3. 3

    Of an emotion or situation: to have a strong effect upon.

    As the water level began to rise, I was gripped by panic.

  4. 4

    To firmly hold the attention of.

    The movie gripped me from beginning to end.

  5. 5

    To trench; to drain.

noun

  1. 1

    A hold or way of holding, particularly with the hand.

    It's good to have a firm grip when shaking hands.

  2. 2

    Ability to resist slippage when pressed in contact with another object or surface.

    These tyres are worn out and don't have much grip.

  3. 3

    A place to grip; a handle; the portion of a handle that the hand occupies.

    Near-synonym: handgrip

  4. 4

    Ellipsis of pistol grip.

  5. 5

    A device, or a portion of one, that grasps or holds fast to something.

    The unthreaded portion of the bolt's shank is called the grip.

  6. 6

    An apparatus attached to a car (e.g., cable car, funicular car, mine car) for clutching a traction cable.

  7. 7

    Control, power, or mastery over someone or something; a tenacious grasp; a holding fast.

    We need to get a grip on these spiralling costs.

  8. 8

    Mental grasp.

    He's losing his grip – he's practically senile.

  9. 9

    A small ditch or trench; a channel to carry off water or other liquid; a drain.

  10. 10

    A channel cut through a grass verge, especially for the purpose of draining water away from the highway.

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

Grip in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsaisir, agripper (to take hold), prise, poigne (A hold or way of holding, particularly with the…), poignée (A handle or other place to grip), machiniste (A person responsible for handling equipment in…)
Germanfesthalten, greifen (to take hold), Griff (A hold or way of holding, particularly with the…), Hilfe, helfende Hand (Assistance, encouragement)
Portugueseagarrar, segurar (to take hold), agarra, agarro, agarramento (A hold or way of holding, particularly with the…)
Spanishagarrar, atenazar, empuñar (to take hold), agarradero, agarradera (A handle or other place to grip), apoderarse de (of an emotion or situation: to have a strong…)

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 grip come from?

Verb from Middle English grippen, from Old English grippan, from a Proto-Germanic *gripjaną (compare Old High German gripfen); compare the related Old English grīpan, whence English gripe. See also grope, and the related Proto-Germanic *grīpaną. Noun from Middle English grippe, gripe, an amalgam of Old English gripe (“grasp, hold”) (cognate with German Griff) and Old English gripa (“handful”) (cognate with Swedish grepp).

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

What to look up after grip