label
/ˈleɪ.bəl/noun, verb
label is spelled L-A-B-E-L. The wrong spelling people search most is labell: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 303 of all searches for the word. Label is a noun meaning “A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached”. The plural of label is labels.
How many letters and syllables are in label?
| Letters | 5: L-A-B-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 27 times per million words; the 3,422nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, labell, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 label?
Label is spelled L-A-B-E-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 304 of the searches for label 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 label?
Label appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd 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 label?
- US /ˈleɪ.bəl/
- US [ˈleɪ.bɫ̩]
- British [ˈlɛj.b(ə)ɫ]
Label 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: En-us-label.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with label
Also written: labeled.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with label?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as label from its last stressed vowel (/eɪbəl/):
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 label
- labels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- labeling US, participle, present
- labelling UK, participle, present
- labeled US, participle, past
- labelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does label mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
We laughed at her because the label was still on her new sweater.
- 2
A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.
Ever since he started going to the rock club, he's been given the label "waster".
- 3
A company that sells records.
The label signed the band after hearing a demo tape.
- 4
A user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration.
Storage devices can be given by label or ID.
- 5
A named place in source code that can be jumped to using a GOTO or equivalent construct.
- 6
A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.
- 7
obsoleteA tassel.
- 8
A small strip, especially of paper or parchment (or of some material attached to parchment to carry the seal), but also of iron, brass, land, etc.
verb
- 1
To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).
The shop assistant labeled all the products in the shop.
- 2
To give (a label) to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.
He's been unfairly labeled as a cheat, although he's only ever cheated once.
- 3
To replace specific atoms by their isotope in order to track the presence or movement of this isotope through a reaction, metabolic pathway or cell.
- 4
To add a detectable substance, either transiently or permanently, to a biological substance in order to track the presence of the label-substance combination either in situ or in vitro
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Label in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | étiquette, libellé , case, catégorie , étiqueter , catégoriser |
| German | Etikett, Etikette, Beschriftung, Aufschrift , etikettieren, einordnen (abstrakt) |
| Portuguese | etiqueta, rótulo , etiquetar, rotular , classificar |
| Spanish | etiqueta, rótulo, marbete, rotulata, marchamo, label |
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 label come from?
From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).