make ends meet
"make-ends-meet" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“make ends meet” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To have enough money to cover expenses; to get by financially; to get through the pay period (sufficient to meet the next payday).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | make ends meet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “make ends meet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for make ends meet is 14 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To have enough money to cover expenses; to get by financially; to get through the pay period (sufficient to meet the next payday).".
No misspelling variants are generated for make ends meet in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown. Perhaps originally referred to the ends of rope meeting, signifying continuity and therefore security and stability. Perhaps shifting later to refer to the attempt at making money last from one pay period to the next (i.e. the ends), thereby leavin… The correct English form is make ends meet, spelled M-A-K-E- -E-N-D-S- -M-E-E-T.
Definition
- 1To have enough money to cover expenses; to get by financially; to get through the pay period (sufficient to meet the next payday).
Etymology
Unknown. Perhaps originally referred to the ends of rope meeting, signifying continuity and therefore security and stability. Perhaps shifting later to refer to the attempt at making money last from one pay period to the next (i.e. the ends), thereby leaving no gap or break in the availability of funds. Compare French joindre les deux bouts (literally “join the two ends”) with the same meaning. The form make both ends meet is attested from the 17th century, and was the more common form until the early-to-mid 20th century.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “make ends meet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-K-E- -E-N-D-S- -M-E-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.