Skip to main content
PlainSpell

research

re·search/ˈɹiˌsɝt͡ʃ/noun, verb

research is spelled R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H, 2 syllables: re·search. The wrong spelling people search most is reserch: about 170 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 56 of all searches for the word. Research is a noun meaning “Diligent inquiry or examination to seek or revise facts, principles, theories, applications, etc. (that are…”. The plural of research is researches.

How many letters and syllables are in research?

Letters8: R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H
Syllables2: re·search
In writing245 times per million words; the 402nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched5; the most searched, reserch, about 170 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell research?

Research is spelled R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H. 5 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 18 of the searches for research in either form.

researchthe right spelling9,450 searches a month
resercha missing a170 searches a month
reasearchan extra a150 searches a month
reseacha missing r90 searches a month
reseracha and r swapped90 searches a month
resarcha missing e60 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 research?

Research appears 245 times per million words in written English, the 402nd 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 research?

  • /ˈɹiːsɜːt͡ʃ/
  • /ɹɪˈsɜːt͡ʃ/
  • US /ˈɹiˌsɝt͡ʃ/

Research has 2 syllables, split re·search in writing.

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

Words people confuse with research

Also written: re-search (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with research?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as research (/isɜɹtʃ/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: searcher.

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 research

  • researches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • researching participle, present
  • researched participle, past

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

What does research mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Diligent inquiry or examination to seek or revise facts, principles, theories, applications, etc. (that are currently available, or that are familiar to oneself).

    The research station that houses Wang and his team is outside Lijiang, a city of about 1.2 million people.

  2. 2

    datedA particular instance or piece of research.

verb

  1. 1

    To search or examine with continued care; to seek diligently.

  2. 2

    To make an extensive investigation into.

  3. 3

    To search again.

  4. 4

    To receive a certain response in market research.

    Agency and bank staff told the newspaper the ad researched well.

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

Research in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrecherche (inquiry or examination), rechercher (to examine with continued care), examiner, explorer, fouiller (to make an investigation into)
GermanForschung (inquiry or examination), forschen, erforschen (to examine with continued care), recherchieren (to make an investigation into), Untersuchung, Forschungsarbeit (piece of research)
Portuguesepesquisa, investigação (inquiry or examination), investigar (to examine with continued care), pesquisar (to make an investigation into)
Spanishinvestigación, enquisa (inquiry or examination), investigar (to examine with continued care)

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 research come from?

Early Modern French rechercher (“to examine closely”), from Old French recerchier (“to seek, to look for”), by surface analysis, re- + search.

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

What to look up after research