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PlainSpell

sound

/ˈsaʊ̯nd/adjective, adverb, interjection, noun, verb

sound is spelled S-O-U-N-D. The wrong spelling people search most is soudn: about 150 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 127 of all searches for the word. Sound is an adjective meaning “Healthy”.

How many letters and syllables are in sound?

Letters5: S-O-U-N-D
Syllables1
In writing141 times per million words; the 737th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, soudn, about 150 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell sound?

Sound is spelled S-O-U-N-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 126 of the searches for sound in either form.

soundthe right spelling18,760 searches a month
soudnn and d swapped150 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 sound?

Sound appears 141 times per million words in written English, the 737th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Sound, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce sound?

  • US /ˈsaʊ̯nd/
  • US [ˈsaʊ̯nd]
  • /ˈsæʊ̯nd/

Sound has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sound.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with sound?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sound from its last stressed vowel (/aʊnd/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: nodus.

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 sound

  • sounder comparative
  • soundest superlative
  • more sound comparative
  • most sound superlative
  • sounds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sounding participle, present
  • sounded participle, past

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

What does sound mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Healthy.

    He was safe and sound.

  2. 2

    Complete, solid, or secure.

    Fred assured me the floorboards were sound.

  3. 3

    Having the property of soundness.

  4. 4

    IrelandUKslangGood; acceptable; decent.

    How are you? –I'm sound.

  5. 5

    Quiet and deep.

    Sound asleep means sleeping peacefully, and often deeply.

  6. 6

    Heavy; laid on with force.

    a sound beating

  7. 7

    Founded in law; legal; valid; not defective.

    a sound title to land

adverb

  1. 1

    Soundly.

interjection

  1. 1

    IrelandUKslangYes; used to show agreement or understanding.

    I found my jacket. – Sound.

noun

  1. 1

    A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.

    He turned when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.  Nobody made a sound.

  2. 2

    A vibration capable of causing such sensations.

  3. 3

    A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc.

  4. 4

    Noise without meaning; empty noise.

  5. 5

    Earshot, distance within which a certain noise may be heard.

    Stay within the sound of my voice.

  6. 6

    A segment as a part of spoken language, the smallest unit of spoken language, a speech sound.

  7. 7

    A long narrow inlet, or a strait between the mainland and an island; also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean.

    Puget Sound; Owen Sound; Long Island Sound

  8. 8

    The air bladder of a fish.

    Cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.

  9. 9

    A long, thin probe for sounding or dilating body cavities or canals such as the urethra; a sonde.

verb

  1. 1

    To produce a sound.

    When the horn sounds, take cover.

  2. 2

    To convey an impression by one's sound.

    He sounded good when we last spoke.

  3. 3

    To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo resound.

  5. 5

    To arise or to be recognizable as arising in or from a particular area of law, or as likely to result in a particular kind of legal remedy.

    In my opinion this claim sounds in damages rather than in an injunction.

  6. 6

    To cause to produce a sound.

    Sound the alarm!

  7. 7

    To pronounce.

    The "e" in "house" isn't sounded.

  8. 8

    Of a whale, to dive downwards.

    The whale sounded and eight hundred feet of heavy line streaked out of the line tub before he ended his dive.

  9. 9

    To ascertain, or to try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try; to test; to probe.

    When I sounded him, he appeared to favor the proposed deal.

  10. 10

    To fathom or test; to ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.

    Mariners on sailing ships would sound the depth of the water with a weighted rope.

  11. 11

    To examine with the instrument called a sound or sonde, or by auscultation or percussion.

    to sound a patient, or the bladder or urethra

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

Sound in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsain (healthy), complet, solide, sûr (complete, solid, or secure), profond (deep and restful of sleep), son (sensation perceived by the ear)
Germangesund (healthy), Klang, Schall, Laut, Grüüsch (sensation perceived by the ear), klingen (to produce a sound)
Portuguesesão (healthy), completo, sólido, seguro (complete, solid, or secure), profundo (deep and restful of sleep), som (sensation perceived by the ear)
Spanishsano (healthy), sólido (complete, solid, or secure), profundo (deep and restful of sleep), sonido (sensation perceived by the ear), sonar (to produce a sound), estrecho (long narrow inlet)

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 sound come from?

From Middle English sound, sund, isund, ȝesund, from Old English sund (“sound, safe, whole, uninjured, healthy, prosperous”), from Proto-West Germanic *sund, from Proto-Germanic *sundaz (“healthy”), merged with synonymous Old English ġesund, from Proto-West Germanic *gasund.

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

What to look up after sound