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PlainSpell

phrase

/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/noun, verb

phrase is spelled P-H-R-A-S-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, phrase means “A short written or spoken expression” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of phrase is phrases.

How many letters and syllables are in phrase?

Letters6: P-H-R-A-S-E
Syllables1
In writing20 times per million words; the 4,302nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is phrase?

Phrase appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,302nd 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 phrase?

  • US /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/
  • US [ˈfɹʷeɪ̯z]
  • British /ˈfɹɛjz/

Phrase has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-phrase.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with phrase

Sounds like: fraise (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with phrase?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as phrase from its last stressed vowel (/eɪz/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sherpa, shaper, phaser, seraph.

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 phrase

  • phrases plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • phrasing participle, present
  • phrased participle, past

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

What does phrase mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A short written or spoken expression.

    I've made progress, but this is still, in Churchill's phrase, just "the end of the beginning."

  2. 2

    A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, always containing an expressed or implied head (the principal word or subgroup, with core importance) and often consisting of a head plus some other elaborating words.

    Holonyms: clause, sentence; phrasing, phraseology, turn of phrase; phrase-book; document, message; language; communication

  3. 3

    A small section of music in a larger piece.

  4. 4

    archaicA mode or form of speech; diction; expression.

  5. 5

    A short individual motion forming part of a choreographed dance.

verb

  1. 1

    To express (an action, thought or idea) by means of particular words.

    I wasn't sure how to phrase my condolences without sounding patronising.

  2. 2

    To perform (a passage) with a particular phrasing.

  3. 3

    To divide into melodic phrases.

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

How do you abbreviate phrase?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of phrase: phr, phr..

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

Phrase in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchexpression (short written or spoken expression), locution, syntagme (grammar: group of two or more words that…), phrase (music: small section of music in a larger piece), exprimer, formuler (express by means of words)
GermanRedewendung, Phrase (short written or spoken expression), formulieren (express by means of words)
Portugueseexpressão, frase (short written or spoken expression), locução, sintagma (grammar: group of two or more words that…), exprimir, expressar (express by means of words)
Spanishfrase (short written or spoken expression), formular, expresar, frasear (express by means of words)

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 phrase come from?

Borrowed from Late Latin phrasis (“diction”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “manner of expression”), from φράζω (phrázō, “to tell, express”).

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

What to look up after phrase