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PlainSpell

ponder

/ˈpɑn.dəɹ/verb, noun

ponder is spelled P-O-N-D-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, ponder means “To wonder, think of deeply” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in ponder?

Letters6: P-O-N-D-E-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,297th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 ponder?

Ponder appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th 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 ponder?

  • UK /ˈpɒn.də/
  • US /ˈpɑn.dəɹ/

Ponder 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: En-us-ponder.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with ponder?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ponder from its last stressed vowel (/ɑndəɹ/):

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 ponder

  • ponders present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • pondering participle, present
  • pondered participle, past

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

What does ponder mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To wonder, think of deeply.

  2. 2

    To consider (something) carefully and thoroughly.

    I have spent days pondering the meaning of life.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo weigh.

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialA period of deep thought.

    I lit my pipe and had a ponder about it, but reached no definite conclusion.

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

Ponder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsonger, réfléchir (to think deeply), s'interroger (to consider carefully)
Germangrübeln (to think deeply), überlegen, nachdenken (to consider carefully)
Portugueseponderar (to think deeply)
Spanishconsiderar, meditar, cavilar, discurrir (to think deeply), ponderar, sopesar (to consider carefully)

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 ponder come from?

From Middle English ponderen, from Old French ponderer (“to weigh, balance, ponder”) from Latin ponderāre (“to weigh, ponder”), from pondus (“weight”), from pendere (“to weigh”); see pendent and pound.

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

What to look up after ponder