people
peo·ple/ˈpi.pəl/noun, verb
people is spelled P-E-O-P-L-E, 2 syllables: peo·ple. The wrong spelling people search most is peopel: about 1,180 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 227 of all searches for the word. People is a noun meaning “Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family…”. The plural of people is peoples.
How many letters and syllables are in people?
| Letters | 6: P-E-O-P-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: peo·ple |
| In writing | 1,778 times per million words; the 68th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, peopel, about 1,180 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 do you spell people?
People is spelled P-E-O-P-L-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 153 of the searches for people in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is people?
People appears 1,778 times per million words in written English, the 68th 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 people?
- US /ˈpi.pəl/
- US [ˈpʰi.pəɫ]
- US [ˈpʰi.pɫ̩]
People has 2 syllables, split peo·ple in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-people.ogg, En-uk-people.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with people
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: peeps.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with people?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as people from its last stressed vowel (/ipəl/):
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 people
- peoples plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- peeps
- peops
- pipple
- ppl
- ppl.
- peopling participle, present
- peopled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does people mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
plural of person: a body of persons considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.
There were so many people at the restaurant last night.
- 2
Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc.
a people apart
- 3
A group of persons regarded as being servants, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler or leader.
Moses said, "Let my people go."
- 4
One's colleagues or employees.
I'll have my people call your people.
- 5
A person's ancestors, relatives or family.
My people lived through the Black Plague and the Thirty Years War.
- 6
The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.
The people have successfully stood up against tyranny and totalitarianism.
- 7
People in general, humans, by extension sentient beings real or fictional.
People don't like it when you tweak their noses.
verb
- 1
To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people; to populate.
- 2
To become populous or populated.
- 3
To inhabit; to occupy; to populate.
[…] / As thick and numberless / As the gay motes that people the Sun Beams, / […]
- 4
informalrareTo interact with people; to socialize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate people?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of people: ppl.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
People in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gens , peuple , équipe , les miens , peupler , se peupler |
| German | Leute, Menschen, Lüüte , Volk, Voik , bevölkern |
| Portuguese | pessoas, gente , povo , pessoal , família , povoar |
| Spanish | gente , pueblo , familia , poblar con , poblarse , poblar |
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 people come from?
From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of unknown origin. Doublet of pueblo. Gradually ousted native English lede and, partially, folk. Originally used with singular verbs (e.g.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).