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sparkle

spar·kle/ˈspɑɹ.kəl/noun, verb

sparkle is spelled S-P-A-R-K-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (spar·kle). It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sparkle means “A little spark; a scintillation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sparkle is sparkles.

How many letters and syllables are in sparkle?

Letters7: S-P-A-R-K-L-E
Syllables2: spar·kle
In writing2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like

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).

How common is sparkle?

Sparkle appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th 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 sparkle?

  • UK /ˈspɑː.kəl/
  • US /ˈspɑɹ.kəl/

Sparkle has 2 syllables, split spar·kle in writing.

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

Words people confuse with sparkle

Sounds like: SPARQL (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of sparkle

  • sparkles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sparkling participle, present
  • sparkled participle, past
  • sparckle
  • sparcle

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

What does sparkle mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A little spark; a scintillation.

  2. 2

    Brilliance; luster.

    the sparkle of a diamond

  3. 3

    Liveliness; vivacity.

    the sparkle of his conversation over dinner

  4. 4

    The quality of being sparkling or fizzy; effervescence.

verb

  1. 1

    To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles.

    The wood was sparkling in the bonfire.

  2. 2

    To shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle.

    The stars sparkle in the sky.

  3. 3

    To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.

  4. 4

    To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce.

    sparkling wine

  5. 5

    To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo disperse.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo scatter on or over.

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

Sparkle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portuguesecintilação (scintillation), brilho (brilliance), faiscar, centelhar, fagulhar (to emit sparks), cintilar (to shine as if throwing off sparks; scintillate)
Spanishdestello, chispa (scintillation), brillo, lustre (brilliance), cintilar, escintilar (to shine as if throwing off sparks; scintillate)
GermanFunkeln, Glitzern (brilliance), funkeln (to emit sparks)
Frenchscintiller (to shine as if throwing off sparks; scintillate), luire (to manifest as if by emitting sparks; glisten)

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 sparkle come from?

From Middle English sparkel, sparkle, sparcle, equivalent to spark + -le (diminutive suffix). In some modern uses deverbal from etymology 2 below.

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

What to look up after sparkle