sparse
/spɑːɹs/adjective
sparse is spelled S-P-A-R-S-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sparse means “Having widely spaced intervals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sparse?
| Letters | 6: S-P-A-R-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sparse?
Sparse appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th 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 sparse?
- UK /spɑːs/
- US /spɑːɹs/
Sparse 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Gibraltar_Rocks-sparse.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sparse?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sparse from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹs/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: passer, repass.
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 sparse
- sparser comparative
- sparsest superlative
- sparses present, singular, he/she/it
- sparsing participle, present
- sparsed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sparse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having widely spaced intervals.
a sparse array, index, or matrix
- 2
Not dense; meager; scanty
- 3
Having few nonzero elements
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo disperse, to scatter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sparse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | épars, clairsemé |
| German | spärlich , dünn |
| Portuguese | esparso, disperso , ralo |
| Spanish | disperso |
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 sparse come from?
Borrowed from Latin sparsus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).