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PlainSpell

license

li·cense/ˈlaɪ.səns/noun, verb

license is spelled L-I-C-E-N-S-E, 2 syllables: li·cense. The wrong spelling people search most is liscense: about 1,590 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 42 of all searches for the word. License is a noun meaning “A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit”. The plural of license is licenses.

How many letters and syllables are in license?

Letters7: L-I-C-E-N-S-E
Syllables2: li·cense
In writing33 times per million words; the 2,888th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, liscense, about 1,590 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Pairs people search
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 license?

License is spelled L-I-C-E-N-S-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 38 of the searches for license in either form.

licensethe right spelling65,390 searches a month
liscensean extra s1,590 searches a month
lisenses in place of c160 searches a month

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 license?

License appears 33 times per million words in written English, the 2,888th 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 license?

  • /ˈlaɪ.səns/

License has 2 syllables, split li·cense in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-license.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with license

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

licence vs license1,300 G

Also written: driver's license, licence.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with license?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: silence.

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 license

  • licenses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • licence
  • licensing participle, present
  • licensed participle, past

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

What does license mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    USA legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.

  2. 2

    USThe legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.

  3. 3

    USFreedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech).

  4. 4

    USExcessive freedom; lack of due restraint.

  5. 5

    USEllipsis of driver's license.

    In order to enter the building, I need to show my license.

verb

  1. 1

    USTo authorize officially.

    I am licensed to practice law in this state.

  2. 2

    USTo give formal authorization to use.

    It was decided to license Wikipedia under the GFDL.

  3. 3

    USTo acquire authorization to use, usually in exchange for compensation.

    The filmmakers licensed several iconic 80's songs for the soundtrack.

  4. 4

    USTo give permission or freedom to; accept.

  5. 5

    USTo permit (as grammatically correct).

    No English adverbs have mandatory complements, and most don't even license optional ones.

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

How do you abbreviate license?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of license: lic.

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

License in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlicence (legal document giving official permission to do…)
GermanLizenz, Erlaubnis, Genehmigung, Schein (legal document giving official permission to do…), lizenzieren (to authorize officially)
Portuguesealvará, licença (legal document giving official permission to do…)
Spanishlicencia (legal document giving official permission to do…), licenciar (to authorize officially), impetra (freedom to deviate from rules), subscribir, licenciarse, subscribirse (to acquire authorization to use)

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 license come from?

From Middle English licence, licens, lisence, lissens, licance, from Old French licence, from Latin licentia (“license”), from licens, present participle of licere (“to be allowed, be allowable”); compare linquere, Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “leave”).

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

What to look up after license