homeless
/ˈhoʊmlɪs/adjective, noun
homeless is spelled H-O-M-E-L-E-S-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, homeless means “Lacking a permanent place of residence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in homeless?
| Letters | 8: H-O-M-E-L-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 18 times per million words; the 4,589th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is homeless?
Homeless appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th 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 homeless?
- US /ˈhoʊmlɪs/
- US /ˈhoʊmləs/
Homeless has 2 syllables (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-homeless.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of homeless
- homelesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does homeless mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Lacking a permanent place of residence.
Whenever I pass the park, I see the homeless people sleeping on the benches.
- 2
Containing no place that might be called home.
noun
- 1
nonstandardoffensiveA person who is homeless.
Oszlár Kálmán András, Yoga in the Bed: Tantric Continence & Spiritual Intimacy […] the jobseekers and homelesses or even the future prime minister, all of us are involved in formation of the new world.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Homeless in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | SDF (sans domicile fixe), itinérant, sans-abri |
| German | obdachlos, wohnungslos , Obdachloser |
| Portuguese | sem-teto, sem-abrigo, desabrigado, only as a noun: morador de rua |
| Spanish | sin hogar, vagabundo, desalojado, sintecho, sin techo, en situación de calle |
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.