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rise

/ɹaɪz/verb, noun

rise is spelled R-I-S-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “raise vs rise” about 880 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, rise means “To move upwards” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in rise?

Letters4: R-I-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing65 times per million words; the 1,636th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); 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 common is rise?

Rise appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th 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 rise?

  • /ɹaɪz/
  • /ɹaɪs/

Rise has one syllable (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-rise.ogg, En-au-rise.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with rise

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

Also written: pay rise, rice, rize.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with rise?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as rise.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sire, reis, eirs.

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 rise

  • rises present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • rising participle, present
  • rose past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • risen participle, past
  • rize

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

What does rise mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To move upwards.

    We watched the balloon rise.

  2. 2

    To grow upward; to attain a certain height.

    This elm tree rises to a height of seventy feet.

  3. 3

    To slope upward.

    The path rises as you approach the foot of the hill.

  4. 4

    To appear to move upwards from behind the horizon of a planet as a result of the planet's rotation.

    The sun was rising in the East.

  5. 5

    To become erect; to assume an upright position.

    to rise from a chair or from a fall

  6. 6

    To leave one's bed; to get up.

  7. 7

    To be resurrected.

    he rose from the grave;   he is risen!

  8. 8

    To terminate an official sitting; to adjourn.

    The committee rose after agreeing to the report.

noun

  1. 1

    The process of or an action or instance of moving upwards or becoming greater.

    The rise of the tide.

  2. 2

    The process of or an action or instance of coming to prominence.

    The rise of the working class.

  3. 3

    AustraliaCanadaUKAn increase in a quantity, price, etc.

  4. 4

    AustraliaCanadaIrelandUKEllipsis of pay rise (“an increase in wage or salary”).

    The governor just gave me a rise of two pound six.

  5. 5

    The amount of material extending from waist to crotch in a pair of trousers or shorts.

    The rise of his pants was so low that his tailbone was exposed.

  6. 6

    The front of a diaper.

  7. 7

    A small hill; used chiefly in place names.

  8. 8

    An area of terrain that tends upward away from the viewer, such that it conceals the region behind it; a slope.

  9. 9

    Alternative form of rice (“twig”).

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

Rise in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmonter (to move upwards), se lever (of a celestial body: to appear to move from…), ressusciter (to be resurrected), prendre sa source (to have its source), montée (action of moving upwards)
Germansteigen, aufsteigen, hochsteigen, hochfliegen (to move upwards), aufgehen (of a celestial body: to appear to move from…), auferstehen (to be resurrected)
Portuguesesubir, ascender, levantar (to move upwards), erguer-se (of a celestial body: to appear to move from…), ressurgir (to be resurrected), aumentar (of a quantity, etc: to increase)
Spanishlevantarse, repuntar, subir (to move upwards), salir, nacer, levar (disused) (of a celestial body: to appear to move from…)

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 rise come from?

From Middle English risen, from Old English rīsan, from Proto-West Germanic *rīsan, from Proto-Germanic *rīsaną (“to rise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to arise, rise”). According to Kroonen (2013), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to rise, spring”). See also raise.

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

What to look up after rise