piece
/piːs/noun, verb
piece is spelled P-I-E-C-E. The wrong spelling people search most is peice: about 980 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Piece is a noun meaning “A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts”. The plural of piece is pieces.
How many letters and syllables are in piece?
| Letters | 5: P-I-E-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 110 times per million words; the 972nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, peice, about 980 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 do you spell piece?
Piece is spelled P-I-E-C-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for piece 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 piece?
Piece appears 110 times per million words in written English, the 972nd 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 piece?
- /piːs/
Piece 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-piece.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with piece
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: peace (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 piece
- pieces plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- piecing participle, present
- pieced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does piece mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.
Near-synonyms: aspect, portion
- 2
A single item belonging to a class of similar items.
a piece of machinery
- 3
One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; (by extension) those with which draughts, backgammon, and other similar board games are played.
- 4
A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
a sixpenny piece
- 5
An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.
period piece
- 6
An article published in the press.
Today's paper has an interesting piece on medical research.
- 7
An artillery gun.
- 8
UScolloquialA gun.
He's packin' a piece!
verb
- 1
To assemble (something real or figurative).
These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.
- 2
To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out.
to piece a garment
- 3
slangTo produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.
- 4
datedinformalTo eat small quantities of food between meals; to snack; to take small or intermittent bites at a food item.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate piece?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of piece: pc, pce.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Piece in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | morceau, part, bout, pièce , monter, assembler |
| German | Stück , Spielfigur, Offizier , Beitrag |
| Portuguese | peça, pedaço, parte |
| Spanish | pieza, pedazo, trozo, retazo , montar , ficha |
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 piece come from?
From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin pecia, petia (“broken piece, fragment; parcel of land”), of uncertain origin. Possibly ultimately from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion, quota”). Compare Welsh peth (“thing, stuff, junk”), Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid (“part, portion”). Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo. Displaced native Middle English sticche, stucche (“piece, fragment”) from Old English styċċe (“piece, portion”), whence also English styca.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).