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PlainSpell

prepare

/pɹɪˈpɛ(ə)ɹ/verb

prepare is spelled P-R-E-P-A-R-E. The wrong spelling people search most is prepair: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 19 of all searches for the word. Prepare is a verb meaning “To make ready for a specific future purpose; to set up; to assemble or equip; to forearm”.

How many letters and syllables are in prepare?

Letters7: P-R-E-P-A-R-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing35 times per million words; the 2,725th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, prepair, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them)
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 do you spell prepare?

Prepare is spelled P-R-E-P-A-R-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 19 of the searches for prepare in either form.

preparethe right spelling1,460 searches a month
prepairi in place of r, r in place of e80 searches a month

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 prepare?

Prepare appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th 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 prepare?

  • UK /pɹɪˈpɛə/
  • UK /pɹɪˈpɛː/
  • US /pɹɪˈpɛ(ə)ɹ/

Prepare 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-prepare.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with prepare?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as prepare from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹ/):

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 prepare

  • prepares present, singular, he/she/it
  • preparing participle, present
  • prepared participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does prepare mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To make ready for a specific future purpose; to set up; to assemble or equip; to forearm.

    We prepared the spacecraft for takeoff.

  2. 2

    To make ready for eating or drinking; to cook.

    We prepared a fish for dinner.

  3. 3

    To make oneself ready; to get ready, make preparation.

    We prepared for a bumpy ride.

  4. 4

    To produce or make by combining elements; to synthesize, compound.

    She prepared a meal from what was left in the cupboards.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoletepreparation

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

Prepare in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpréparer (to make ready for a specific future purpose), apprêter (to make ready for eating or drinking), se préparer (to make oneself ready), combiner (to produce by combining elements)
Germanvorbereiten, präparieren (to make ready for a specific future purpose), zubereiten (to make ready for eating or drinking), sich vorbereiten (to make oneself ready)
Portuguesepreparar (to make ready for a specific future purpose), fazer (to make ready for eating or drinking), preparar-se (to make oneself ready)
Spanishpreparar, aprestar, aparejar (to make ready for a specific future purpose), prepararse (to make oneself ready)

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 prepare come from?

Partially a back-formation from preparation; and partially borrowed from Middle French preparer, from Classical Latin praeparāre (“make ready in advance”), from prae- (“pre-”) + parāre (“make ready”). Compare Middle English preparaten (“to prepare”).

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

What to look up after prepare