licence
li·cence/ˈlaɪ.səns/noun
licence is spelled L-I-C-E-N-C-E, 2 syllables: li·cence. The wrong spelling people search most is lisence: about 1,200 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Licence is a noun meaning “UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of…”. The plural of licence is licences.
How many letters and syllables are in licence?
| Letters | 7: L-I-C-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: li·cence |
| In writing | 9.3 times per million words; the 7,445th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, lisence, about 1,200 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
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 licence?
Licence is spelled L-I-C-E-N-C-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 3 in 10 of the searches for licence 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 licence?
Licence appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th 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 licence?
- US /ˈlaɪ.səns/
- Australia /ˈlɑe.səns/
- /ˈlaɪsəns/
Licence has 2 syllables, split li·cence in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-licence.wav, En-au-licence.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with licence
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: licenced, license.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of licence
- licences plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does licence mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of license.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate licence?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of licence: lic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).