illustrate
/ˈɪl.jʊˌstɹeɪt/verb
illustrate is spelled I-L-L-U-S-T-R-A-T-E. The wrong spelling people search most is illistrate: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Illustrate is a verb meaning “To clarify something by giving, or serving as, an example or a comparison”.
How many letters and syllables are in illustrate?
| Letters | 10: I-L-L-U-S-T-R-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, illistrate, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell illustrate?
Illustrate is spelled I-L-L-U-S-T-R-A-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for illustrate in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is illustrate?
Illustrate appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th 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 illustrate?
- UK /ˈɪl.jʊˌstɹeɪt/
- UK /ɪˈlʌsˌtɹeɪt/
- UK /ˈɪl.jəˌstɹeɪt/
Illustrate has 3 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-uk-illustrate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of illustrate
- illustrates present, singular, he/she/it
- illustrating participle, present
- illustrated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does illustrate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To clarify something by giving, or serving as, an example or a comparison.
We illustrate our definitions by including quotations or simple examples.
- 2
To provide a book or other publication with pictures, diagrams or other explanatory or decorative features.
The economics textbook was illustrated with many graphs.
- 3
obsoleteTo shed light upon.
- 4
obsoleteTo give renown or honour to; to make illustrious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Illustrate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to clarify by giving as an example:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | illustrer |
| German | illustrieren |
| Portuguese | ilustrar |
| Spanish | ilustrar |
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 illustrate come from?
Back-formation from illustration.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).