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PlainSpell

retrieve

/ɹəˈtɹiv/verb, noun

retrieve is spelled R-E-T-R-I-E-V-E. The wrong spelling people search most is retreive: about 280 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Retrieve is a verb meaning “To regain or get back something”.

How many letters and syllables are in retrieve?

Letters8: R-E-T-R-I-E-V-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.9 times per million words; the 11,373rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, retreive, about 280 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 retrieve?

Retrieve is spelled R-E-T-R-I-E-V-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for retrieve in either form.

retrievethe right spelling2,310 searches a month
retreivei and e swapped280 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 retrieve?

Retrieve appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd 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 retrieve?

  • UK /ɹɪˈtɹiːv/
  • UK /ɹə-/
  • US /ɹəˈtɹiv/

Retrieve 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-retrieve.wav, En-retrieve.flac, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with retrieve?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as retrieve from its last stressed vowel (/iv/):

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 retrieve

  • retrieves present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • retrieving participle, present
  • retrieved participle, past

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

What does retrieve mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To regain or get back something.

    to retrieve one's character or independence; to retrieve a thrown ball

  2. 2

    To rescue (a creature).

  3. 3

    To salvage something

  4. 4

    To remedy or rectify something.

  5. 5

    To remember or recall something.

  6. 6

    To fetch or carry back something, especially (computing) a file or data record.

  7. 7

    To fetch and bring in game.

    The cook doesn't care what's shot, only what's actually retrieved.

  8. 8

    To fetch and bring in game systematically.

    Dog breeds called 'retrievers' were selected for retrieving.

noun

  1. 1

    A retrieval.

  2. 2

    The return of a difficult ball.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA seeking again; a discovery.

  4. 4

    obsoleteThe recovery of game once sprung.

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

Retrieve in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrécupérer, retrouver (to regain or get back something)
Germanzurückholen, zurückerhalten, wiedererhalten, wiedererlangen, wiederkriegen (to regain or get back something), retten (to rescue)
Portugueserecuperar (to regain or get back something), resgatar (to rescue), remediar (to remedy or rectify something)
Spanishrecobrar (to regain or get back something), ir a por, ir por, entregarse, diñarse, coger (to fetch or carry back something)

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 retrieve come from?

Recorded in Middle English c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”, modern retrouver), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose”).

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

What to look up after retrieve