improvement
im·prove·ment/ɪmˈpɹuːvmənt/noun
improvement is spelled I-M-P-R-O-V-E-M-E-N-T, 3 syllables: im·prove·ment. The wrong spelling people search most is improvment: about 160 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Improvement is a noun meaning “The act of improving; advancement or growth; a bettering”. The plural of improvement is improvements.
How many letters and syllables are in improvement?
| Letters | 11: I-M-P-R-O-V-E-M-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: im·prove·ment |
| In writing | 31 times per million words; the 3,052nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, improvment, about 160 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell improvement?
Improvement is spelled I-M-P-R-O-V-E-M-E-N-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for improvement 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 improvement?
Improvement appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd 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 improvement?
- /ɪmˈpɹuːvmənt/
Improvement has 3 syllables, split im·prove·ment in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-improvement.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of improvement
- improvements plural
- emprovement
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does improvement mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of improving; advancement or growth; a bettering
November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God I look upon your city as […] the best place of improvement.
- 2
The act of making profitable use or application of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; practical application, for example of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.
- 3
The state of being improved; betterment; advance
- 4
Something which is improved
the new edition is an improvement on the old.
- 5
Increase; growth; progress; advance.
- 6
Valuable additions or betterments, for example buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
- 7
A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate improvement?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of improvement: imp..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Improvement in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of improving:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | amélioration |
| German | Verbesserung |
| Portuguese | melhora, melhoramento, melhoria |
| Spanish | mejora, mejoramiento, mejoría |
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 improvement come from?
From Anglo-Norman emprouwement. By surface analysis, improve + -ment.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).