raffle
/ˈɹæfl̩/noun, verb
raffle is spelled R-A-F-F-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, raffle means “A drawing, often held as a fundraiser, in which tickets or chances are sold to win a prize” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of raffle is raffles.
How many letters and syllables are in raffle?
| Letters | 6: R-A-F-F-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 raffle?
Raffle appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st 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 raffle?
- /ˈɹæfl̩/
Raffle 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-raffle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with raffle?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as raffle.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: laffer, farfel.
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 raffle
- raffles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- raffling participle, present
- raffled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does raffle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A drawing, often held as a fundraiser, in which tickets or chances are sold to win a prize.
He entered a raffle to win a lifetime supply of toothpaste, but he did not win.
- 2
obsoleteA game of dice in which the player who throws three of the same number wins all the stakes.
- 3
The system by which cases are assigned to judges in multi-sala courts.
- 4
datedRefuse; rubbish.
the oversurviving raffle of half-green things which the gentle winter has suffered to live
verb
- 1
To award something by means of a raffle or random drawing.
They raffled off four gift baskets.
- 2
To participate in a raffle.
to raffle for a watch
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Raffle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tombola , mettre en tombola |
| German | Tombola, Verlosung , verlosen |
| Portuguese | rifa , rifar |
| Spanish | rifa, mita , rifar, quintar |
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 raffle come from?
From Middle English rafle, from Old French rafle, raffle (“dice game", also "plundering”), from rafler (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), from Frankish *raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreb(h)-, *(s)kerb(h)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).