sell
/sɛl/verb, noun
sell is spelled S-E-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 95 times per million words in written English, the 1,125th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “sale vs sell” about 9,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, sell means “To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sell?
| Letters | 4: S-E-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 95 times per million words; the 1,125th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
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).
How common is sell?
Sell appears 95 times per million words in written English, the 1,125th 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 sell?
- /sɛl/
Sell 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-sell.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sell
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: cel, cell (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).
Forms of sell
- sells present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- selling participle, present
- sold participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sell mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
She sold her old car very quickly.
- 2
To be sold.
This old stock will never sell.
- 3
To promote (a product or service) although not being paid in any direct way or at all.
- 4
To promote (a particular viewpoint).
My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally.
- 5
To betray for money or other things.
- 6
slangTo trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
- 7
slangTo pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
- 8
slangTo throw under the bus; to let down one's own team in an endeavour, especially in a sport or a game.
He's selling!
noun
- 1
An act of selling; sale.
- 2
The promotion of an idea for acceptance.
This is going to be a tough sell.
- 3
An easy task.
- 4
colloquialdatedAn imposition, a cheat; a hoax; a disappointment; anything occasioning a loss of pride or dignity.
What a sell for Lena!
- 5
obsoleteA seat or stool.
- 6
archaicA saddle.
- 7
obsoleteA rope (usually for tying up cattle, but can also mean any sort of rope).
He picked up the sell from the straw-strewn barn-floor, snelly sneaked up behind her and sleekly slung it around her swire while scryingː "dee, dee ye fooking quhoreǃ".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sell in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | vendre , se vendre |
| German | verkaufen, vertreiben , sich verkaufen , beschwindeln, beschummeln |
| Portuguese | vender |
| Spanish | vender , venderse, salir , intentar, buscar , actuar |
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 sell come from?
From Middle English sellen, from Old English sellan (“give; give up for money”), from Proto-West Germanic *salljan, from Proto-Germanic *saljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁-.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).