populace
/ˈpɑpjələs/noun
populace is spelled P-O-P-U-L-A-C-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “populace vs populous” about 30 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, populace means “The common people of a nation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of populace is populaces.
How many letters and syllables are in populace?
| Letters | 8: P-O-P-U-L-A-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is populace?
Populace appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 populace?
- UK /ˈpɒpjʊləs/
- US /ˈpɑpjələs/
- /ˈpɔp(j)ʊles/
Populace has 3 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-populace.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with populace
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: populous (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).
What rhymes with populace?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as populace from its last stressed vowel (/ɑpjələs/):
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 populace
- populaces plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does populace mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The common people of a nation.
The populace despised their ignorant leader.
- 2
The inhabitants of a country or one of its administrative divisions (such as a state, province, or county).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Populace in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense common people:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bas peuple, plèbe, populace |
| German | gemeine Volk, breite Masse, Pöbel |
| Portuguese | povão, povo |
| Spanish | populacho, pueblo |
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 populace come from?
Borrowed from Middle French populace, from Italian popolaccio, from popolo + -accio (“pejorative suffix”), from Latin populus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).