payback
/ˈpeɪbæk/noun
payback is spelled P-A-Y-B-A-C-K: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, payback means “An act of revenge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of payback is paybacks.
How many letters and syllables are in payback?
| Letters | 7: P-A-Y-B-A-C-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 19,825th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| 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 payback?
Payback appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th 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 payback?
- /ˈpeɪbæk/
Payback has 2 syllables (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-payback.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with payback
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: pay back (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with payback?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as payback.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: backpay.
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 payback
- paybacks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does payback mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An act of revenge.
They beat us last year, so this year's win was payback.
- 2
A benefit, reward, a form of recompense.
- 3
A return on investment.
- 4
rareA refund; reimbursement.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Payback in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Rache, Revanche , Rückzahlung, Rückerstattung |
| Portuguese | forra, troco , retorno |
| Spanish | venganza, desquite, revancha , recompensa |
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 payback come from?
Deverbal from pay back.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).