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PlainSpell

posse

/ˈpɑs.i/noun

posse is spelled P-O-S-S-E: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, posse means “A group or company of people, originally especially one having hostile intent; a throng, a crowd” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of posse is posses.

How many letters and syllables are in posse?

Letters5: P-O-S-S-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.5 times per million words; the 22,965th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
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 posse?

Posse appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th 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 posse?

  • UK /ˈpɒs.i/
  • US /ˈpɑs.i/

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

What rhymes with posse?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as posse from its last stressed vowel (/ɑsi/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: spose.

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 posse

  • posses plural

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

What does posse mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A group or company of people, originally especially one having hostile intent; a throng, a crowd.

  2. 2

    A group of people summoned to help law enforcement.

  3. 3

    USA search party.

  4. 4

    USslangA criminal gang.

  5. 5

    colloquialA group of (especially young) people seen as constituting a peer group or band of associates; a gang, a group of friends.

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

Posse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanTrupp (A group of people summoned to help law…), Suchtrupp (A search party), Bande (A criminal gang), Clique (A group of associates)
Spanishposse comitatus, fuerza parapolicial, parapolicía (A group of people summoned to help law…), cuadrilla armada, banda, corrillo (A criminal gang)
Frenchbande (A criminal gang)
Portuguesebando (A criminal gang)

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 posse come from?

Ellipsis of posse comitatus.

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

What to look up after posse