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PlainSpell

signature

/ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃɚ/noun, adjective, verb

signature is spelled S-I-G-N-A-T-U-R-E. The wrong spelling people search most is signiture: about 920 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 40 of all searches for the word. Signature is a noun meaning “A person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying…”. The plural of signature is signatures.

How many letters and syllables are in signature?

Letters9: S-I-G-N-A-T-U-R-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing18 times per million words; the 4,667th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, signiture, about 920 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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 do you spell signature?

Signature is spelled S-I-G-N-A-T-U-R-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 40 of the searches for signature in either form.

signaturethe right spelling35,960 searches a month
signiturei in place of a920 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 signature?

Signature appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th 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 signature?

  • UK /ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃə/
  • UK /ˈsɪɡ.nɪ.t͡ʃə/
  • US /ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃɚ/

Signature has 3 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-signature.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of signature

  • signatures plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more signature comparative
  • most signature superlative
  • signaturing participle, present
  • signatured participle, past

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

What does signature mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.

  2. 2

    An act of signing one's name; an act of producing a signature.

  3. 3

    The part of a doctor’s prescription containing directions for the patient.

  4. 4

    Signs on the stave indicating key and tempo, composed of the key signature and the time signature.

  5. 5

    A group of four (or a multiple of four) sheets printed such that, when folded, they become a section of a book.

  6. 6

    A pattern used for matching the identity of a virus, the parameter types of a method, etc.

  7. 7

    Data attached to a message that guarantees that the message originated from its claimed source.

  8. 8

    A mark or sign of implication.

adjective

  1. 1

    Distinctive, characteristic, indicative of identity.

    Rabbit in mustard sauce is my signature dish.

verb

  1. 1

    To sign with one's signature, to write one's signature on.

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

Signature in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsignature (person’s autograph name), cahier (printing: four or multiple of four pages folded…)
GermanUnterschrift, Signatur (person’s autograph name), Druckbogen (printing: four or multiple of four pages folded…)
Portuguesefirma, assinatura (person’s autograph name)
Spanishfirma, rúbrica, signatura (person’s autograph name), pliego (printing: four or multiple of four pages folded…)

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 signature come from?

Borrowed from Middle French signature, or from Medieval Latin signātūra, future active periphrastic of verb signāre from signum (“sign”), + -tūra, feminine of -tūrus, future active periphrastic suffix. Displaced native Old English handseten (literally “hand setting”).

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

What to look up after signature