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PlainSpell

matter

mat·terUK /ˈmætə/noun, verb

matter is spelled M-A-T-T-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (mat·ter). It appears 240 times per million words in written English, the 417th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “madder vs matter” about 10 times a month (Bing, United States). As a noun, matter means “Anything with mass and volume” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of matter is matters.

How many letters and syllables are in matter?

Letters6: M-A-T-T-E-R
Syllables2: mat·ter
In writing240 times per million words; the 417th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

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 matter?

Matter appears 240 times per million words in written English, the 417th 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 matter?

  • UK /ˈmætə/
  • British /ˈmatə/
  • /ˈmatəɾ/

Matter has 2 syllables, split mat·ter in writing.

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

Words people confuse with matter

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

madder vs matter10 B

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

What rhymes with matter?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as matter from its last stressed vowel (/ætə/, British pronunciation):

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 matter

  • matters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • mattering participle, present
  • mattered participle, past

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

What does matter mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Anything with mass and volume.

  2. 2

    Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.

  3. 3

    A kind of substance.

    vegetable matter

  4. 4

    Printed material, especially in books or magazines.

    He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.

  5. 5

    Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.

  6. 6

    An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.

    Something is the matter with him.

  7. 7

    An approximate amount or extent.

    I stayed for a matter of months.

  8. 8

    Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.

    Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.

verb

  1. 1

    To be important.

    The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.

  2. 2

    To care about, to mind; to find important.

    Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]

  3. 3

    archaicTo form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

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

Matter in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmatière (basic structural component of the universe), affaire, question (situation, condition, subject or affair), cause (cause), importer, compter (to be important)
GermanMaterie (basic structural component of the universe), wichtig sein (to be important), Masse, Substanz, Stoff (kind of substance), Angelegenheit (reason for concern)
Portuguesematéria (basic structural component of the universe), assunto (situation, condition, subject or affair), importar (to be important), questão (reason for concern)
Spanishmateria (basic structural component of the universe), importar (to be important), asunto, cuestión (reason for concern)

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 matter come from?

From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother.

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

What to look up after matter