preferences
noun, verb
preferences is spelled P-R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E-S: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, preferences means “The user-specified settings of parameters in interactive computer software” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in preferences?
| Letters | 11: P-R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is preferences?
Preferences appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd 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 preferences?
- US
Preferences has 4 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)-Flame,_not_lame-preferences.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of preferences
- præferences
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does preferences mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The user-specified settings of parameters in interactive computer software
- 2
plural of preference
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of preference
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Preferences in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense user-specified settings of parameters in computer software:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | préférences |
| German | Einstellungen |
| Portuguese | preferências |
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.