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PlainSpell

keep

UK [kiːp]verb, noun

keep is spelled K-E-E-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 457 times per million words in written English, the 207th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, keep means “To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in keep?

Letters4: K-E-E-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing457 times per million words; the 207th 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 keep?

Keep appears 457 times per million words in written English, the 207th 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 keep?

  • /kiːp/
  • UK [kiːp]
  • UK [kʰɪjp]

Keep 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-keep.wav, En-us-keep.ogg, En-au-keep.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with keep?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as keep.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: peek, peke.

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 keep

  • keeps present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • keeping participle, present
  • kept participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does keep mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain.

    to keep silence;  to keep possession

  2. 2

    To remain faithful to a given promise or word.

    to keep one's word;  to keep one's promise

  3. 3

    To maintain possession of.

    I keep a small stock of painkillers for emergencies.

  4. 4

    To maintain the condition of; to preserve in a certain state.

    I keep my specimens under glass to protect them.

  5. 5

    To record transactions, accounts, or events in.

    I used to keep a diary.

  6. 6

    To enter (accounts, records, etc.) in a book.

  7. 7

    archaicTo remain in; to be confined to.

  8. 8

    To restrain.

    I keep my pet gerbil away from my brother.

noun

  1. 1

    The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls.

  2. 2

    The food or money required to keep someone alive and healthy; one's support, maintenance.

    He works as a cobbler's apprentice for his keep.

  3. 3

    The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case.

    to be in good keep

  4. 4

    A cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place.

  5. 5

    obsoleteThe act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge; notice.

  6. 6

    obsoleteThat which is kept in charge; a charge.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA mistress (the other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations).

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

Keep in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgarder (to maintain possession of), conserver (to maintain the condition of; to preserve), empêcher (to restrain), continuer (à / de) (to continue), se conserver (to remain edible or otherwise usable), donjon (main tower)
Germanbehalten, aufheben (to maintain possession of), bewahren, erhalten (to maintain the condition of; to preserve), heraushalten, fernhalten (to restrain)
Portuguesemanter, guardar (to maintain possession of), deixar (to maintain the condition of; to preserve), conter (to restrain), torre de menagem (main tower), permanecer (to remain in, to be confined to)
Spanishguardar, quedar (to maintain possession of), seguir (to continue), torre del homenaje (main tower), permanecer (to remain in, to be confined to), criar (of livestock: to raise; to care for)

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 keep come from?

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (“to look, heed, watch, observe”) (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian забо́та (zabóta, “care, worry”)). The dialectal sense of the verb meaning “to put back” or “put away” may be analyzed as a semantic loan from a local language–compare Welsh cadw and Mandarin 收 (shōu).

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

What to look up after keep