Skip to main content
PlainSpell

playful

/ˈpleɪfl̩/adjective

playful is spelled P-L-A-Y-F-U-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, playful means “Enjoying play; sportive; prone to playing frequently, in the manner of a child or young pet (viz. puppy or kitten)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in playful?

Letters7: P-L-A-Y-F-U-L
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.4 times per million words; the 14,307th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is playful?

Playful appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th 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 playful?

  • /ˈpleɪfl̩/

Playful 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-playful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of playful

  • playfuller comparative
  • more playful comparative
  • playfullest superlative
  • most playful superlative
  • playfull

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

What does playful mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Enjoying play; sportive; prone to playing frequently, in the manner of a child or young pet (viz. puppy or kitten).

    Actually, we are pretty playful in our romantic life.

  2. 2

    Funny; humorous; jesty; frolicsome; frisky.

    John is a playful fellow.

  3. 3

    Fun; recreational; unserious.

    A brainteaser is a playful puzzle posed as a test of intelligence.

  4. 4

    Experimental.

    He was a rather playful artist.

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

Playful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfolâtre, enjoué, joueur (liking or prone to play)
Germanverspielt (liking or prone to play)
Portuguesebrincalhão (liking or prone to play), divertido (funny, humorous, jesting, frolicsome), lúdico (fun, recreational, not serious)
Spanishjuguetón (liking or prone to play), divertido (funny, humorous, jesting, frolicsome)

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 playful come from?

From Middle English pleiful, equivalent to play + -ful.

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

What to look up after playful