rifle
/ˈɹaɪfəl/noun, verb
rifle is spelled R-I-F-L-E: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rifle means “A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rifle is rifles.
How many letters and syllables are in rifle?
| Letters | 5: R-I-F-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,309th 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 rifle?
Rifle appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th 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 rifle?
- /ˈɹaɪfəl/
Rifle 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-rifle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with rifle?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as rifle.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: flier, lifer, filer.
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 rifle
- rifles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- rifling participle, present
- rifled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does rifle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
- 2
datedA rifleman.
- 3
An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.
- 4
A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
verb
- 1
To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing).
Near-synonym: riffle
- 2
To commit robbery or theft.
- 3
To search with intent to steal.
- 4
To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
- 5
To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
- 6
To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy.
- 7
To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.
- 8
To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Rifle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fusil |
| German | Gewehr |
| Portuguese | fuzil, espingarda, rifle, refle , revirar |
| Spanish | fusil, rifle, arma larga |
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 rifle come from?
Originally short for “rifled gun”, referring to the spiral grooves inside the barrel. From Middle English riflen (“to rob, plunder, search through”), from Old French rifler (“to lightly scratch, scrape off, plunder”), from Old High German riffilōn (compare German riffeln (“to score, make grooves in, ripple”), archaic Dutch rijfelen (“to scrape”), Old English rifelan, riflian (“to wrinkle”)), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *rīfaną (compare Old Norse rífa (“to tear, break”)). More at rive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).