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PlainSpell

reply

re·ply/ɹɪˈplaɪ/verb, noun

reply is spelled R-E-P-L-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (re·ply). It appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, reply means “To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in reply?

Letters5: R-E-P-L-Y
Syllables2: re·ply
In writing32 times per million words; the 2,992nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is reply?

Reply appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd 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 reply?

  • /ɹɪˈplaɪ/

Reply has 2 syllables, split re·ply in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-reply.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of reply

  • replies present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • replying participle, present
  • replied participle, past

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

What does reply mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.

    (intransitive) Please reply to my letter.

  2. 2

    To act or gesture in response.

    Joanne replied to Pete's insult with a slap to his face.

  3. 3

    To repeat something back; to echo.

noun

  1. 1

    A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.

  2. 2

    Something given in reply.

  3. 3

    A counterattack.

  4. 4

    The answer of a figure.

  5. 5

    USA document written by a party specifically replying to a responsive declaration and in some cases an answer.

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

Reply in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrépondre (to give a written or spoken response), réponse (written or spoken response)
Germanantworten, erwidern (to give a written or spoken response), Antwort, Entgegnung (written or spoken response)
Portugueseresponder (to give a written or spoken response), resposta (written or spoken response), repetir (to repeat something back)
Spanishresponder, contestar (to give a written or spoken response), respuesta, responsión, contestación (written or spoken response), repetir (to repeat something back)

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 reply come from?

From Middle English replyen, replien, borrowed from Old French replier (“to reply”), from the Latin replicō, replicāre (“to fold back”) (in Late or Medieval Latin "to reply, repeat"), from re + plicō (“to fold”); the noun derives from the verb by nominalisation. Doublet of replicate and replica.

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

What to look up after reply