lightening
/ˈlaɪ.tn̩.ɪŋ/noun, verb
lightening is spelled L-I-G-H-T-E-N-I-N-G: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “lightening vs lightning” about 1,300 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, lightening means “The act or result of making something light or lighter” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lightening is lightenings.
How many letters and syllables are in lightening?
| Letters | 10: L-I-G-H-T-E-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
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).
How common is lightening?
Lightening appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 lightening?
- /ˈlaɪ.tn̩.ɪŋ/
Lightening has 3 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-lightening.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lightening
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: lightning.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of lightening
- lightenings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lightening mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act or result of making something light or lighter.
- 2
The sensation caused by the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity before the onset of labour
- 3
The removal of cargo (especially crude oil) from a vessel in order to reduce its draft
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of lighten
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).