similar
sim·i·lar/ˈsɪm.ə.lɚ/adjective, noun
similar is spelled S-I-M-I-L-A-R, 3 syllables: sim·i·lar. The wrong spelling people search most is similiar: about 390 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 14 of all searches for the word. Similar is an adjective meaning “Having traits or characteristics in common; alike, allied, comparable”.
How many letters and syllables are in similar?
| Letters | 7: S-I-M-I-L-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sim·i·lar |
| In writing | 162 times per million words; the 625th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, similiar, about 390 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 similar?
Similar is spelled S-I-M-I-L-A-R. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for similar in either form.
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 similar?
Similar appears 162 times per million words in written English, the 625th 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 similar?
- UK /ˈsɪm.ɪ.lə/
- UK /ˈsɪm.ə.lə/
- US /ˈsɪm.ə.lɚ/
Similar has 3 syllables, split sim·i·lar in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-similar.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with similar
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of similar
- more similar comparative
- most similar superlative
- similars plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does similar mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having traits or characteristics in common; alike, allied, comparable.
My new car is quite similar to my old one, except it has a bit more space in the back.
- 2
Having the same shape, in particular, having corresponding angles equal and corresponding line segments proportional.
- 3
Of two square matrices; being such that a conjugation sends one matrix to the other.
noun
- 1
That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc.
- 2
A material that produces an effect that resembles the symptoms of a particular disease.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Similar in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | similaire, semblable |
| German | ähnlich |
| Portuguese | parecido, semelhante, similar |
| Spanish | similar, semejante, parecido, parejo, equiparable |
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 similar come from?
From French similaire, from Medieval Latin similaris, extended from Latin similis (“like”); akin to simul (“together”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).