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PlainSpell

pair

/pɛɹ/noun, verb

pair is spelled P-A-I-R: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “pair vs pare” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, pair means “Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pair is pairs.

How many letters and syllables are in pair?

Letters4: P-A-I-R
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing52 times per million words; the 1,941st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); 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 pair?

Pair appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st 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 pair?

  • UK /pɛə/
  • US /pɛɹ/
  • Australia /peː/

Pair 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-pair.ogg, En-au-pair.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with pair

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

pair vs pare480 G
pair vs pear0 B
pair vs peer0 B

Sounds like: pare, pear, pere (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

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

What rhymes with pair?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pair from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: pari.

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 pair

  • pairs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • pairing participle, present
  • paired participle, past

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

What does pair mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of.

    I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.

  2. 2

    One of the constituent items that make up a pair.

  3. 3

    Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.

    Spouses should make a great pair.

  4. 4

    Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).

    a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans

  5. 5

    A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.

    A pair is harder to drive than two mounts with separate riders.

  6. 6

    A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.

  7. 7

    A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.

  8. 8

    informalA double play, two outs recorded in one play.

    They turned a pair to end the fifth.

verb

  1. 1

    To group into one or more sets of two.

    The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.

  2. 2

    to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as Bluetooth.

    It was not possible to pair my smartphone with an incompatible smartwatch.

  3. 3

    To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.

  4. 4

    To come together for mating.

  5. 5

    slangTo engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.

  6. 6

    To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo impair, to make worse.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo become worse, to deteriorate.

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

Pair in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpaire (two similar or identical things)
GermanPaar (two similar or identical things), Pärchen (two people in a relationship), Gelenk (kinematics: two elements, which permit only…)
Portuguesepar (two similar or identical things), emparelhar (transitive: to group into sets of two)
Spanishpar (two similar or identical things), pareja (two people in a relationship), emparejar, parear, aparear (transitive: to group into sets of two), aparearse (intransitive: to suit, fit)

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 pair come from?

From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of par (“pair”). Related to pār (“equal”, adjective). Compare Saterland Frisian Poor (“pair”), West Frisian pear (“pair”), Dutch paar (“pair”), German Paar (“pair”), Italian paio (“pair”)

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

What to look up after pair