number
num·ber[ˈnʌ̟mbɚ]noun, verb, adjective
number is spelled N-U-M-B-E-R, 2 syllables: num·ber. The wrong spelling people search most is nuber: about 170 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 69 of all searches for the word. Number is a noun meaning “Quantity of countable things”. The plural of number is numbers.
How many letters and syllables are in number?
| Letters | 6: N-U-M-B-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: num·ber |
| In writing | 417 times per million words; the 217th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 5; the most searched, nuber, about 170 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 do you spell number?
Number is spelled N-U-M-B-E-R. 5 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 31 of the searches for number 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 number?
Number appears 417 times per million words in written English, the 217th 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 number?
- /ˈnʌmbər/
- UK [ˈnʌmbə]
- US [ˈnʌ̟mbɚ]
As a noun (“Something that numbs”): /ˈnʌmə/, /ˈnʌmɚ/.
Number has 2 syllables, split num·ber in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-number.ogg, En-us-number-adjective.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with number?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as number from its last stressed vowel (/ʌmə/, 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 number
- numbers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- numbering participle, present
- numbered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does number mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Quantity of countable things.
Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.
- 2
An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.
- 3
A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.
The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.
- 4
An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.
The equation e#123;i#92;pi#125;#43;1#61;0 includes the most important numbers: 1, 0, #92;pi, i, and e.
- 5
Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.
Horse number 5 won the race.
- 6
A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.
Her passport number is C01X864TN.
- 7
informalA telephone number.
Let's give her a call. Do you have her number handy?
- 8
Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.
Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case.
- 9
Something that numbs.
verb
- 1
To total or count; to amount to.
I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.
- 2
To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number.
The old man knew that his days were numbered.
- 3
archaicTo count; to determine the quantity of.
The king ordered that all his subjects be numbered.
- 4
To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).
Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.
- 5
To call out and assign a series of numbers (usually to people), either for the sake of dividing into groups or for counting.
Shelley numbered off the group into two teams for the baseball game.
- 6
To enumerate or list, especially while assigning numbers to.
- 7
To classify or include (in a group of things).
Alexander the Great's army numbered an elite cavalry among its ranks.
- 8
To be classified or included (in a certain group or category of things).
Her horses number among the fastest in her country.
adjective
- 1
comparative form of numb: more numb
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate number?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of number: No., num.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Number in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | nombre, numéro , chiffre , nombrer , numéroter , dénombrer |
| German | Zahl , Nummer, Ziffer , nummerieren , Anzahl , zählen |
| Portuguese | número , numeral , numerar , quantidade , amontar |
| Spanish | número, guarismo , numerar |
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 number come from?
Inherited from Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to distribute, to give, to take”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).