prefer
pre·fer[pɹɪˈfɝ]verb
prefer is spelled P-R-E-F-E-R, 2 syllables: pre·fer. The wrong spelling people search most is perfer: about 560 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Prefer is a verb meaning “To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better”.
How many letters and syllables are in prefer?
| Letters | 6: P-R-E-F-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pre·fer |
| In writing | 37 times per million words; the 2,618th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, perfer, about 560 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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).
How do you spell prefer?
Prefer is spelled P-R-E-F-E-R. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for prefer in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is prefer?
Prefer appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th 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 prefer?
- US [pɹɪˈfɝ]
- UK [pɹɪˈfɜː]
- British [pɹɪˈfəː]
Prefer has 2 syllables, split pre·fer in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-prefer.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-prefer.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of prefer
- prefers present, singular, he/she/it
- preferring participle, present
- preferred participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prefer mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better.
I prefer tea to coffee.
- 2
datedTo advance, promote (someone or something).
- 3
To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges").
- 4
obsoleteTo put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prefer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to favor:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | préférer |
| German | vorziehen, bevorzugen, präferieren |
| Portuguese | preferir |
| Spanish | preferir, anteponer |
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 prefer come from?
From Middle English preferren, from Anglo-Norman preferer, from Latin praeferō. Displaced native Old English foresettan and foreberan. Doublet of prelate. See also infer, relate and refer, delate and defer, as well as collate and confer among others.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).