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PlainSpell

march

/mɑɹt͡ʃ/noun, verb

march is spelled M-A-R-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 182 times per million words in written English, the 556th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, march means “A formal, rhythmic way of walking, used especially by soldiers, by bands, and in ceremonies” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of march is marches.

How many letters and syllables are in march?

Letters5: M-A-R-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing182 times per million words; the 556th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is march?

March appears 182 times per million words in written English, the 556th 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 march?

  • UK /mɑːtʃ/
  • US /mɑɹt͡ʃ/
  • Australia /mɐːtʃ/

March has one syllable (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: En-us-March.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with march

Also written: mark.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with march?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as march from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹtʃ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: charm.

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 march

  • marches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • marching participle, present
  • marched participle, past

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

What does march mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A formal, rhythmic way of walking, used especially by soldiers, by bands, and in ceremonies.

  2. 2

    A journey so walked.

  3. 3

    A political rally or parade.

  4. 4

    Any song in the genre of music written for marching (see Wikipedia's article on this type of music)

  5. 5

    Steady forward movement or progression.

    the march of time

  6. 6

    The feat of taking all the tricks of a hand.

  7. 7

    archaicA border region, especially one originally set up to defend a boundary.

  8. 8

    A region at a frontier governed by a marquess.

  9. 9

    obsoleteSmallage.

verb

  1. 1

    To walk with long, regular strides, as a soldier does.

  2. 2

    To cause someone to walk somewhere.

  3. 3

    To go to war; to make military advances.

  4. 4

    To make steady progress.

  5. 5

    To have common borders or frontiers

proper noun

as March
  1. 1

    The third month of the Gregorian calendar, following February and preceding April, containing the northward equinox.

    Holonyms: calendar year; year

  2. 2

    A surname from Middle English for someone born in March, or for someone living near a boundary (marche).

  3. 3

    A male given name from English.

  4. 4

    A locality in the Cabonne council area, central New South Wales, Australia.

  5. 5

    A market town and civil parish with a town council in Fenland district, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TL4196).

  6. 6

    A municipality near Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

  7. 7

    An unincorporated community in Marshall County, Minnesota, United States.

  8. 8

    An unincorporated community in Dallas County, Missouri, United States, named after the month.

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

March in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmarche (formal, rhythmic way of walking), défilé, manifestation (political rally or parade), marcher (walk with long, regular strides), mars (third month of the Gregorian calendar)
GermanMarsch (formal, rhythmic way of walking), Parade (political rally or parade), marschieren (walk with long, regular strides), Marschmusik (song in the genre of music written for marching), Fortgang, Lauf (steady forward movement or progression)
Portuguesemarcha (formal, rhythmic way of walking), passeata (political rally or parade), marchar (walk with long, regular strides), março (third month of the Gregorian calendar), fronteira (border region), marquesado (region at a frontier governed by a marquess)
Spanishmarcha (formal, rhythmic way of walking), manifestación (political rally or parade), marchar (walk with long, regular strides), marzo (third month of the Gregorian calendar), marca (border region)

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 march come from?

From Middle English marchen, from Middle French marcher (“to march, walk”), from Old French marchier (“to stride, to march, to trample”), from Frankish *markōn (“to mark, mark out, to press with the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *markōną (“to mark”). Akin to Old English mearc, ġemearc (“mark, boundary”). Compare mark, from Old English mearcian. Compare typologically Russian сле́довать (slédovatʹ) (akin to след (sled)). Also compare пятно́ (pjatnó) (<~ пята́ (pjatá)).

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

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