interest
in·ter·est/ˈɪn.tɹɛst/noun, verb
interest is spelled I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T, 3 syllables: in·ter·est. The wrong spelling people search most is intrest: about 1,610 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Interest is a noun meaning “The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction…”. The plural of interest is interests.
How many letters and syllables are in interest?
| Letters | 8: I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: in·ter·est |
| In writing | 148 times per million words; the 697th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, intrest, about 1,610 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 do you spell interest?
Interest is spelled I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for interest 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 interest?
Interest appears 148 times per million words in written English, the 697th 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 interest?
- UK /ˈɪn.tɹɛst/
- UK /ˈɪn.t(ə.)ɹɪst/
- US /ˈɪn.tɹɛst/
Interest has 3 syllables, split in·ter·est in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-interest.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with interest?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as interest (/ɪntɹɛst/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sternite.
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 interest
- interests plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- intherest
- interesting participle, present
- interested participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does interest mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed.
Our bank offers borrowers an annual interest of 5%.
- 2
Any excess over and above an exact equivalent
- 3
A great attention and concern from someone or something; intellectual curiosity.
He has a lot of interest in vintage cars.
- 4
Attention that is given to or received from someone or something.
- 5
Advantage, welfare, or something that serves it.
- 6
An involvement, claim, right, share, stake in or link with a financial, business, or other undertaking or endeavor.
When scientists and doctors write articles and when politicians run for office, they are required in many countries to declare any existing conflicts of interest (competing interests).
- 7
Something which, or someone whom, one is interested in.
Lexicography is one of my interests.
- 8
Condition or quality of exciting concern or being of importance.
verb
- 1
To engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing.
It might interest you to learn that others have already tried that approach.
- 2
obsoleteTo be concerned with or engaged in; to affect; to concern; to excite.
- 3
obsoleteTo cause or permit to share.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate interest?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of interest: POI.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Interest in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | intérêt , intéresser |
| German | Zinsen , interessieren , Interesse |
| Portuguese | juros , interessar , interesse |
| Spanish | interés , interesar , aras |
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 interest come from?
From Middle English interest, from Old French interesse and interest (French intérêt), from Medieval Latin interesse, from Latin interesse.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).