owe
/oʊ/verb
owe is spelled O-W-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, owe means “To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in owe?
| Letters | 3: O-W-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,778th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is owe?
Owe appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th 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 owe?
- UK /əʊ/
- US /oʊ/
Owe 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-owe.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with owe
Sounds like: o, oh (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with owe?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as owe from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: woe.
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 owe
- owes present, singular, he/she/it
- owing participle, present
- owed past, participle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does owe mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.
- 2
To have debt; to be in debt.
- 3
To have as a cause; used with to.
The record owes its success to the outstanding guitar solos.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Owe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | devoir |
| German | schulden, schuldig sein |
| Portuguese | dever |
| Spanish | deber, adeudar , estar en deuda |
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 owe come from?
From Middle English owen, from Old English āgan, from Proto-West Germanic *aigan (“to own”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂óyḱe (“to possess, own”), reduplicated stative of *h₂eyḱ- (“to own”). See also own, ought.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).