par
/pɑɹ/noun, adjective, preposition, verb
par is spelled P-A-R: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, par means “Abbreviation of paragraph” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of par is pars.
How many letters and syllables are in par?
| Letters | 3: P-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,595th 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 par?
Par appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th 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 par?
- UK /pɑː/
- US /pɑɹ/
- US [pʰɑɹ]
Par 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)-Vealhurl-pa.wav, En-us-par.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with par
Sounds like: pa (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: parr.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with par?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as par from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rap, arp.
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 par
- pars plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- parring participle, present
- parred participle, past
- para-
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does par mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of paragraph.
- 2
Abbreviation of parenthesis.
- 3
Abbreviation of parish.
- 4
Equal value; equality of nominal and actual value; the value expressed on the face or in the words of a certificate of value, as a bond or other commercial paper.
- 5
Equality of condition or circumstances.
- 6
The allotted number of strokes to reach the hole.
He needs to make this shot for par.
- 7
A hole in which a player achieves par.
- 8
UKAn amount which is taken as an average or mean.
- 9
Alternative form of parr (“young salmon”).
preposition
- 1
By; with.
verb
- 1
To reach the hole in the allotted number of strokes.
He will need to par every hole in order to win this game.
- 2
To associate, to chill, to hang.
noun
- 1
Initialism of periodic automatic replenishment: in inventory control, a fixed quantity of an item that must be kept on hand to support daily operations.
- 2
Initialism of photosynthetically-active radiation.
- 3
Initialism of precision approach radar.
- 4
Abbreviation of phased-array radar.
- 5
Abbreviation of pseudoautosomal region.
- 6
Initialism of personnel accountability report.
adjective
- 1
Initialism of planed all round: of timber, planed on all sides as opposed to rough sawn.
adjective
- 1
Abbreviation of parallel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).