paws
/pɔːz/noun, verb
paws is spelled P-A-W-S: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, paws means “pause, used in contexts of animals with paws” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in paws?
| Letters | 4: P-A-W-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th 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 paws?
Paws appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 paws?
- UK /pɔːz/
- US /pɔːz/
- US /pɑːz/
Paws 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-paws.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with paws
Sounds like: pause (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with paws?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as paws from its last stressed vowel (/ɔz/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: swap, wasp.
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 paws
- pawses present, singular, he/she/it
- pawsing participle, present
- pawsed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does paws mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalpause, used in contexts of animals with paws
- 2
plural of paw
verb
- 1
informalto pause, used in contexts of animals with paws
- 2
third-person singular simple present indicative of paw
noun
- 1
Acronym of pervasive arousal withdrawal syndrome.
- 2
Acronym of post-acute-withdrawal syndrome.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does paws come from?
Pun on pause sounding identical to paws (plural of paw).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).