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PlainSpell

hoop

/hʊp/noun, verb

hoop is spelled H-O-O-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hoop means “A circular band of metal used to bind a barrel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hoop is hoops.

How many letters and syllables are in hoop?

Letters4: H-O-O-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is hoop?

Hoop appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th 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 hoop?

  • /huːp/
  • US /hʊp/

Hoop 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-AU_ck1_hoop.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with hoop?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as hoop (/ʊp/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: pooh.

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 hoop

  • hoops plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • hooping participle, present
  • hooped participle, past

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

What does hoop mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A circular band of metal used to bind a barrel.

  2. 2

    Any circular band or ring.

    the cheese hoop, or cylinder in which the curd is pressed in making cheese

  3. 3

    A circular band of metal, wood, or similar material used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.

  4. 4

    A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; (hence, by extension) a hoop petticoat or hoop skirt.

  5. 5

    A quart-pot; so called because originally bound with hoops, like a barrel. Also, a portion of the contents measured by the distance between the hoops.

  6. 6

    UKobsoleteAn old measure of capacity, variously estimated at from one to four pecks.

  7. 7

    The rim part of a basketball net.

  8. 8

    USThe game of basketball.

  9. 9

    A shout; a whoop, as in whooping cough.

  10. 10

    archaicThe hoopoe.

verb

  1. 1

    To bind or fasten using a hoop.

    to hoop a barrel or puncheon

  2. 2

    To clasp; to encircle; to surround.

  3. 3

    slangTo play basketball.

  4. 4

    datedTo utter a loud cry, or a sound imitative of the word, by way of call or pursuit; to shout.

  5. 5

    datedTo whoop, as in whooping cough.

noun

as Hoop
  1. 1

    Someone connected with Queens Park Rangers Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

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

Hoop in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcercle, cerceau (circular band of metal used to bind a barrel)
GermanReif (circular band of metal used to bind a barrel), Reifrock (circle used for expanding the skirts of ladies'…)
Portuguesearo (circular band of metal used to bind a barrel)
Spanisharo, fleje, cincho, zuncho, cello (circular band of metal used to bind a barrel)

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 hoop come from?

From Middle English hoop, hoope, from Old English hōp (“mound, raised land; in combination, circular object”), from Proto-Germanic *hōpą (“bend, bow, arch”) (compare Saterland Frisian Houp (“hoop”), Dutch hoep (“hoop”), Old Norse hóp (“bay, inlet”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kāb- (“to bend”) (compare Lithuanian kabė (“hook”), Old Church Slavonic кѫпъ (kǫpŭ, “hill, island”)). More at camp.

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

What to look up after hoop