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PlainSpell

most

/ˈmoʊst/adverb, adjective, pronoun, noun, determiner

most is spelled M-O-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1,000 times per million words in written English, the 105th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, most means “Forms the superlative of many adjectives” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in most?

Letters4: M-O-S-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1,000 times per million words; the 105th 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 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 most?

Most appears 1,000 times per million words in written English, the 105th 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 most?

  • UK /ˈməʊst/
  • US /ˈmoʊst/
  • Canada [ˈmoːst]

Most 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-most.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with most

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

almost vs most0 B

Also written: almost.

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

What rhymes with most?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as most from its last stressed vowel (/oʊst/):

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 most

  • mosts plural

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

What does most mean?

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

adverb

  1. 1

    Forms the superlative of many adjectives.

    This is the most important example.

  2. 2

    proscribedWith a superlative adjective ending in -est.

    the most tallest building in the world

  3. 3

    To a great extent or degree; highly; very.

    This is a most unusual specimen.

  4. 4

    superlative degree of much (a form of much)

  5. 5

    USinformalClipping of almost.

pronoun

  1. 1

    The greater part of a group, especially a group of people.

    Most want the best for their children.

noun

  1. 1

    The greatest amount.

    The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.

  2. 2

    The greater part.

    Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.

  3. 3

    A record-setting amount.

determiner

  1. 1

    superlative degree of much. (a form of much)

    The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.

  2. 2

    superlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article) (a form of many)

    The team with the most points wins.

  3. 3

    superlative degree of many: the majority of; more than half of (construed without the definite article) (a form of many)

    Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.

adjective

  1. 1

    datedslangThe greatest; the best.

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

Most in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchle plus, la plus, les plus (forming the superlative), très, extrêmement (highly), la plupart de (majority of)
German-ster, -ste, am ...-sten (forming the superlative), die meisten (majority of)
Portugueseo/a/os/as mais (forming the superlative), muito, extremamente, -íssimo (highly), mais, maioria (superlative of much)
Spanishel/la/lo más (forming the superlative), la mayoría de, muchos (majority of)

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 most come from?

From Middle English most, moste, from Old English mǣst, māst, from Proto-Germanic *maistaz, *maist. Cognate with Scots mast, maist (“most”), Saterland Frisian maast (“most”), West Frisian meast (“most”), Dutch meest (“most”), German meist (“most”), Danish and Swedish mest (“most”), Icelandic mestur (“most”).

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

What to look up after most