mite
/maɪt/noun, verb
mite is spelled M-I-T-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Mite, the name). People search “might vs mite” about 70 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, mite means “Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acari (syn. Acarina)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mite is mites.
How many letters and syllables are in mite?
| Letters | 4: M-I-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,092nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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 mite?
Mite appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Mite, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mite?
- US /maɪt/
Mite 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-might.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mite
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: might (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mite?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mite from its last stressed vowel (/aɪt/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: time, item, emit.
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 mite
- mites plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mite mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acari (syn. Acarina).
- 2
A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
- 3
A lepton, a small coin used in Judea in the time of Christ.
- 4
A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
- 5
Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.
a mite
- 6
colloquialA small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
verb
- 1
Eye dialect spelling of might.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mite in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 mite come from?
From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-West Germanic *mītā, from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”) or *meh₂y- (“to cut”). Akin to Old High German mīza (“mite”), Middle Dutch mīte (“moth, mite”), Dutch mijt (“moth, mite”), Danish mide (“mite”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).