ply
/plaɪ/noun, verb
ply is spelled P-L-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ply means “A layer of material” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ply is plies or plys.
How many letters and syllables are in ply?
| Letters | 3: P-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 ply?
Ply appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th 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 ply?
- US /plaɪ/
Ply 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-au-ply.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ply?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ply from its last stressed vowel (/aɪ/):
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 ply
- plies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- plys plural
- plying participle, present
- plied participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ply mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A layer of material.
two-ply toilet paper
- 2
A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn.
- 3
colloquialClipping of plywood.
- 4
In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players.
He proposed to build Deep Purple, a super-computer capable of 24-ply look-ahead for chess.
- 5
ScotlandA condition, a state.
- 6
A bent; a direction.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo bend; to fold; to mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change (a person's) mind, to cause (a person) to submit.
- 2
To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.).
- 3
To work at (something) diligently.
He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.
- 4
To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
He plied his ax with bloody results.
- 5
To press upon; to urge persistently.
to ply someone with questions or solicitations
- 6
To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
to ply someone with drink
- 7
To travel over (a route) regularly.
to ply the seven seas
- 8
obsoleteTo work diligently.
- 9
obsoleteTo manoeuvre a sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat, to tack.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ply in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Lage , Halbzug , biegen, falten |
| Spanish | capa, chapa , hilo, hebra, cordón |
| French | plier |
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 ply come from?
From Middle English pleit, plit, plite (“a fold, pleat, wrinkle; braid, strand in a braided cord, ply”), from Anglo-Norman pli, plei, pleit, and Middle French pli, ploy, ply (“a fold, pleat; joint in armour; situation, state”) (modern French pli (“a fold, pleat”)), from plier, ployer (“to bend, fold”), from Latin plicāre (“to bend, fold, roll up”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to fold, plait, weave”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).