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PlainSpell

peddle

/ˈpɛdəl/verb

peddle is spelled P-E-D-D-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “pedal vs peddle” about 20 times a month (Bing, United States). As a verb, peddle means “To sell things, especially door to door or in insignificant quantities” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in peddle?

Letters6: P-E-D-D-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like

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).

How common is peddle?

Peddle appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd 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 peddle?

  • /ˈpɛdəl/

Peddle 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)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-peddle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with peddle

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

pedal vs peddle20 B

Sounds like: pedal (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).

Forms of peddle

  • peddles present, singular, he/she/it
  • peddling participle, present
  • peddled participle, past

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

What does peddle mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To sell things, especially door to door or in insignificant quantities.

  2. 2

    To sell illegal narcotics.

  3. 3

    derogatoryTo spread or cause to spread.

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

Peddle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcolporter (to sell things, especially door to door)
Germanhausieren (to sell things, especially door to door), verbreiten (to spread or cause to spread)
Portuguesemascatear (to sell things, especially door to door), traficar (to sell illegal narcotics)
Spanishvender de puerta en puerta, intentar vender, querer vender (to sell things, especially door to door), difundir, pregonar (to spread or cause to spread), traficar (to sell illegal narcotics)

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 peddle come from?

Back-formation from pedlar. (Compare burgle from burglar.)

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

What to look up after peddle