needs
/nidz/noun, verb
needs is spelled N-E-E-D-S: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, needs means “plural of need” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in needs?
| Letters | 5: N-E-E-D-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 234 times per million words; the 425th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 needs?
Needs appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th 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 needs?
- UK /niːdz/
- US /nidz/
Needs 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-needs.wav, En-us-needs.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with needs?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as needs from its last stressed vowel (/idz/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dense, sneed.
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 needs
- needes
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does needs mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
plural of need
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of need
adverb
- 1
archaicEither directly or indirectly preceded or followed by an auxiliary verb, often must: of necessity or need; necessarily, indispensably.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does needs come from?
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).