invoke
/ɪnˈvoʊk/verb
invoke is spelled I-N-V-O-K-E. The wrong spelling people search most is envoke: about 360 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Invoke is a verb meaning “To call upon (a person, a god) for help, assistance or guidance”.
How many letters and syllables are in invoke?
| Letters | 6: I-N-V-O-K-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, envoke, about 360 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell invoke?
Invoke is spelled I-N-V-O-K-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for invoke 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 invoke?
Invoke appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th 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 invoke?
- US /ɪnˈvoʊk/
- UK /ɪnˈvəʊk/
Invoke 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-invoke.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with invoke
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with invoke?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as invoke from its last stressed vowel (/oʊk/):
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 invoke
- invokes present, singular, he/she/it
- invoking participle, present
- invoked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does invoke mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To call upon (a person, a god) for help, assistance or guidance.
- 2
To solicit, petition for, appeal to a favorable attitude.
The envoy invoked the King of Kings's magnanimity to reduce his province's tribute after another drought.
- 3
To call another ship.
- 4
To call to mind (something) for some purpose.
- 5
To appeal for validation to a (notably cited) authority.
In certain Christian circles, invoking the Bible constitutes irrefutable proof.
- 6
To conjure up with incantations.
This satanist ritual invokes Beelzebub.
- 7
To bring about as an inevitable consequence.
Blasphemy is taboo as it may invoke divine wrath.
- 8
To cause (a program or subroutine) to execute.
Interactive programs let the users enter choices and invoke the corresponding routines.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Invoke in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 invoke come from?
From Middle English *invoken, envoken, borrowed from Old French envoquer, from Latin invocāre (“to call upon”), itself from in- + vocare (“to call”). Doublet of invocate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).