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PlainSpell

man

/ˈmæn/noun, interjection, pronoun, verb

man is spelled M-A-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 661 times per million words in written English, the 150th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “man vs men” about 1,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, man means “An adult male human” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of man is men.

How many letters and syllables are in man?

Letters3: M-A-N
Syllables1
In writing661 times per million words; the 150th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 common is man?

Man 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 man?

  • US /ˈmæn/
  • [ˈmɛə̯n]
  • [ˈmeə̯n]

Man has one syllable.

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

Words people confuse with man

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

man vs men1,900 G
man vs mens0 B

Also written: mang.

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

What rhymes with man?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as man from its last stressed vowel (/æn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: mna.

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 man

  • men plural
  • mans present, singular, he/she/it
  • manning participle, present
  • manned participle, past

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

What does man mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An adult male human.

    The show is especially popular with middle-aged men.

  2. 2

    All human males collectively: mankind.

  3. 3

    An adult male who belongs to a particular group: an employee, a representative, etc.

  4. 4

    An adult male who has, to an eminent degree, qualities considered masculine, such as strength, integrity, and devotion to family; a mensch.

  5. 5

    An adult or adolescent male servant. Anyone from a right-hand man (high-ranking assistant) to a low-ranking servant.

  6. 6

    datedA human, a person regardless of gender or sex, usually an adult.

    every man for himself

  7. 7

    datedAll humans collectively; mankind, humankind, humanity.

    How did God create man? God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

  8. 8

    A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.

interjection

  1. 1

    Used to place emphasis upon something or someone; sometimes, but not always, when actually addressing a man.

    Man, that was a great catch!

pronoun

  1. 1

    slangUsed to refer to oneself or one's group: I, we; construed in the third person.

    Man's got some new creps.

  2. 2

    slangYou; construed in the third person.

    Man thinks I was born yesterday.

  3. 3

    slangAny person, one

    Man don't care.

verb

  1. 1

    To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex).

    The ship was manned with a small crew.

  2. 2

    To take up position in order to operate (something).

    Man the machine guns!

  3. 3

    datedTo brace (oneself), to fortify or steel (oneself) in a manly way. (Compare man up.)

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo wait on, attend to or escort.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo accustom (a raptor or other type of bird) to the presence of people.

noun

as MAN
  1. 1

    Initialism of Metropolitan Area Network, a large computer network usually spanning a city.

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

Man in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchhomme (adult male human), être humain, humain (a human being), pion (piece in board games), mec (an interjection used to place emphasis upon…)
GermanMann, Herr, Maa, mo, må, môô (adult male human)
Portuguesehomem, varão, mane (adult male human), homenzinho, peão (piece in board games), cara (an interjection used to place emphasis upon…)
Spanishhombre, varón (adult male human), humano, ser humano (a human being), peón (piece in board games), tío (an interjection used to place emphasis upon…)

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 man come from?

From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *mon- (“human being, man”). Doublet of mann and Manu.

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

What to look up after man