role
/ɹoʊl/noun
role is spelled R-O-L-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “role vs roll” about 3,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, role means “A character or part played by a performer or actor” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of role is rôles or roles.
How many letters and syllables are in role?
| Letters | 4: R-O-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 145 times per million words; the 711th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 role?
Role appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th 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 role?
- UK /ɹəʊl/
- UK [ɹəʊɫ]
- US /ɹoʊl/
Role 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-role.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Grendelkhan-role.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Ajshul-role.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with role
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: roll (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with role?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as role from its last stressed vowel (/oʊl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: lore, relo, orle, eorl.
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 role
- rôles plural
- roles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does role mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A character or part played by a performer or actor.
My neighbor was the lead role in last year's village play.
- 2
The expected behaviour of an individual in a society.
The role of women has changed significantly in the last century.
- 3
The function or position of something.
Local volunteers played an important role in cleaning the beach after the oil spill.
- 4
Designation that denotes an associated set of responsibilities, knowledge, skills, or privileges
The project manager role is responsible for ensuring that everyone on the team knows and executes his or her assigned tasks.
- 5
The function of a word in a phrase.
- 6
In the Raku programming language, a code element akin to an interface, used for composition of classes without adding to their inheritance chain.
- 7
An ancient unit of quantity, 72 sheets of parchment.
noun
- 1
Dated spelling of role.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Role in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rôle , fonction |
| German | Rolle , Aufgabe, Funktion |
| Portuguese | papel , função |
| Spanish | papel , rol |
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 role come from?
From French rôle, from Middle French rolle, from Old French role, from Medieval Latin rotulus. Doublet of roll and rotulus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).