love
/ˈlʌv/noun, verb
love is spelled L-O-V-E. The wrong spelling people search most is loev: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 1,250 of all searches for the word. Love is a noun meaning “A deep caring for the existence of another”. The plural of love is loves.
How many letters and syllables are in love?
| Letters | 4: L-O-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 661 times per million words; the 150th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, loev, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 love?
Love is spelled L-O-V-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 527 of the searches for love 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 love?
Love appears 661 times per million words in written English, the 150th 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 love?
- US /ˈlʌv/
- US [ˈlʌv]
- Australia /ˈlɐv/
Love has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-love.ogg, En-us-love.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-love.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with love
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: luv.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with love?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as love from its last stressed vowel (/ʌv/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: vole, levo.
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 love
- loves plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- luv
- loving participle, present
- loved 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 love mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A deep caring for the existence of another.
- 2
A profound and caring affection towards someone.
A mother’s love is not easily shaken.
- 3
Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
The love of your neighbor as yourself, is expressly given as the definition and test of Charity,–not alms-giving–and this love is … the highest of all the Divine commands[.]
- 4
A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
I have never been in love as much as I have with you.
- 5
A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.
My love of cricket knows no bounds.
- 6
A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.
- 7
CommonwealthcolloquialA term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.
Hello love, how can I help you?
- 8
A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.
- 9
Zero, no score.
So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.
- 10
Nothing; no recompense.
verb
- 1
To have a strong affection for (someone or something).
I love my spouse. I love you! I love that song!
- 2
To need, thrive on.
Mold loves moist, dark places.
- 3
To be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.
I love walking barefoot on wet grass; I'd love to join the team; I love what you've done with your hair
- 4
To seek the good or honor of (someone), care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).
- 5
To derive delight from a fact or situation.
I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.
- 6
Synonym of heart (verb).
She loved my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.
- 7
To have sex with (perhaps from make love).
I wish I could love her all night long.
- 8
Alternative form of lofe (“to praise, sell”).
noun
- 1
radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter L.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate love?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of love: LLL.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Love in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | amour , clématite vigne-blanche , aimer , aimer beaucoup, aimer bien, vouloir beaucoup |
| German | Liebe, Zuneigung, Minne, Liäbi, Liebi, Liab |
| Portuguese | amor , adorar , amar , com amor , fazer amor , zero |
| Spanish | amor , amar, querer, bienquerer , cariño , hacer el amor |
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 love come from?
From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu, from Proto-West Germanic *lubu, from Proto-Germanic *lubō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“love, care, desire”). The close of a letter sense is presumably a truncation of With love or the like. Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from Norman amour (“love”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).