now
/naʊ/adjective, adverb, conjunction, interjection, noun
now is spelled N-O-W. The wrong spelling people search most is nowe: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 2,500 of all searches for the word. Now is an adjective meaning “Present; current”.
How many letters and syllables are in now?
| Letters | 3: N-O-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1,514 times per million words; the 75th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, nowe, about 50 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 do you spell now?
Now is spelled N-O-W. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 2,840 of the searches for now in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is now?
Now appears 1,514 times per million words in written English, the 75th 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 now?
- US /naʊ/
- /nuː/
- /næʊ/
Now 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-now.ogg, En-uk-now.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with now
Sounds like: nao (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: now now.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with now?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as now from its last stressed vowel (/aʊ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: own, won.
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 now
- now!
- nows plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does now mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Present; current.
[…] to my now wife Mabell, my child Elisabeth, & my child now begotten, &c., and they to be joint Exõrs, & if all die, then the same jointly to my brother William Every & my sisters Sarah Skibbowe & Joan Brice.
- 2
informalFashionable; popular; up to date; current.
I think this band's sound is very now.
adverb
- 1
At the present time.
Now I am six.
- 2
Used to introduce a point, a qualification of what has previously been said, a remonstration or a rebuke.
Now, we all want what is best for our children.
- 3
Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.
Now I am ready.
- 4
At the time reached within a narration.
Now he remembered why he had come.
- 5
Used to indicate a context of urgency.
Now listen, we must do something about this.
- 6
informalAt the present point of a recurring cycle or event.
I always used to do my shopping now, to avoid the rush.
- 7
obsoleteVery recently; not long ago; up to the present.
- 8
Used to address a switching side, or sharp change in attitude from before.
Now, you want to protect me. An hour ago, you were mercilessly bullying me!
conjunction
- 1
Since, because, in light of the fact.
Now all the children have grown up and left, the house is very quiet.
interjection
- 1
Indicates a signal to begin.
Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!
noun
- 1
The present time.
Now is the right time.
- 2
The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.
She is living in the now.
- 3
A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.
noun
- 1
USAcronym of negotiable order of withdrawal (“an instrument similar to a check”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Now in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | jetzig , jetzt, nun, gerade , jetzt –not sentence-initially , nun da |
| French | maintenant , alors, or , maintenant que , tantôt |
| Portuguese | agora , agora que, já que , já |
| Spanish | ahora, agora , ahora bien , ya |
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 now come from?
From Middle English nou, nu, from Old English nū, from Proto-West Germanic *nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu (“now”), from Proto-Indo-European *nū (“now”). Doublet of nu ("well?").
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).