reserve
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "reserve", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "reserve" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "reserve" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
reserve is aEnglishnoun. It means: A restriction. Pronounced /ɹɪˈzɝv/. It ranks #2,496 in English word frequency. Often confused with revere and reverse.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | reserve |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹɪˈzɝv/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,496 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for reserve is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹɪˈzɝv/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,496 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for reserve, with forms such as "erserve", "reesrve", and "reserev". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "revere", "reverse", "resolve", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French reserver, from Latin reservō (“to reserve, retain”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is reserve, spelled R-E-S-E-R-V-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A restriction.
- 2A restriction.
- 3That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 4That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 5That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 6That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 7That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 8That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 9That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 10That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 11That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.
- 12Something initially kept back for later use in recreation.
- 13Something initially kept back for later use in recreation.
- 14In exhibitions, a distinction indicating that the recipient will get a prize in the event of another person being disqualified.
- 15A resist.
- 16A preparation used on an object being electroplated to fix the limits of the deposit.
Etymology
From Old French reserver, from Latin reservō (“to reserve, retain”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erserve,reesrve,reserev,reserrve,reservve,resevre,resreve,resserve,rreserve,rseerve
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for reserve
Misspelling Variants of "reserve"
Frequency rank: #2,496 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "reserve"?
What does "reserve" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "reserve"?
How do you pronounce "reserve"?
What is the origin of the word "reserve"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: