ploy
/plɔɪ/noun, verb
ploy is spelled P-L-O-Y: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ploy means “A tactic, strategy, or scheme” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ploy is ploys.
How many letters and syllables are in ploy?
| Letters | 4: P-L-O-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ploy?
Ploy appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th 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 ploy?
- /plɔɪ/
Ploy 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ploy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ploy?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ploy.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: poly.
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 ploy
- ploys plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ploying participle, present
- ployed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ploy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A tactic, strategy, or scheme.
Near-synonyms: ruse, stratagem, device
- 2
ScotlandUKSport; frolic.
- 3
obsoleteEmployment.
verb
- 1
To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ploy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense strategy, tactic:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | truc, stratégie, tactique, stratagème, manigance, ruse |
| German | Trick, List, Masche, Manöver |
| Portuguese | estratagema |
| Spanish | táctica, estrategia, truco, complot, trafa |
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 ploy come from?
Possibly from a shortened form of employ or deploy. Or from earlier ploye, from Middle English, borrowed from Middle French ployer (compare modern plier), from Latin plicāre.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).